Anyone Remember Themestream?
By ginny36
@ginny36 (266)
United States
February 10, 2007 9:08pm CST
I recently joined Associated Content and Helium and doing so got me thinking of a site I used to spend a lot of time on several years ago - I think it was actually the late 90's! It was called Themestream, and writers wrote and rated each other there and got paid pennies for each article view.
I loved that place. A lot of it was the usual "you subscribe to me and I'll subscribe to you" deal, but there were a lot of interesting writers there and we had a blast turning events from our daily lives into humorous articles.
I remember being heartbroken when Themestream went out of business. A lot of the writers started email groups and we all kept in touch for a while, but gradually we drifted off into other ventures and I've lost touch with almost everyone.
As far as I know, it was the first or one of the first major online self-publishing paid-for-content sites. Did anyone else here ever write there?
3 people like this
7 responses
@surfincypherz (490)
• United States
12 Feb 07
Wow, could someone direct me to more of these type of sites?
I never heard of Themestream and found mylot by accident one day. And, only just discoved Associated Content and just now Helium. What else is out there?
1 person likes this
@unusualsuspect (2602)
• United States
11 Feb 07
Yup. I'm a veteran of Themestream. When I started checking out writing sites like Helium and AC, I thought of it immediately. I was one of the many who never got paid when the site flamed out. And the same problems are still going strong: spamming, rating circles, revenge rating. But there was a lot of really good writing there. If you're interested in a similar site, try gather.com. They don't pay cash unless you earn $50.00 in a month, but they do have gift cards.
I also wrote for Writtenbyme for a while, and actually got paid by WriteforCash, until they gave it up. Apparently, they came back to life a few times and the website is still up, but they're not doing anything.
1 person likes this
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
27 Mar 07
Yes, I was a member of Themestream.com back in the olden days, and did OK with it. I also was with Epinions.com back in the day as well. I even had to pay Taxes on what I earned from Themestream before it closed. It was a disappointment when it closed. We need to find sites good like this again. I am with AC but have really not done much with it, and was really wondering if you can really make much with it? Actually, I think the days of writing online and earning a decent amount is gone.
@ruthieonart (101)
• United States
11 Feb 07
No but I wrote for a site called Noah Says. Did any one ever hear of them. They kind of fizzled back in the internet bust.
1 person likes this
@CaroleeKaufold (1853)
• United States
27 Mar 07
Yes! I did really well on there. I made a lot of money with them
@kelly60 (4547)
• United States
9 Mar 07
I also used to write for Themestream, and got one payment before they went under. I think that the problem there was the same as it is in too many places. There are too many people who are out to game the system, and not enough who are there because they want to write. That isn't what the site wants. When the site starts losing too much money because of it, they end up closing down. It's a shame, because there are a lot of good writers who lose out because of it.
