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  <id>tag:,2008:/1/tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-</id>
  <updated>2008-09-24T12:22:17Z</updated>
  <title>Comments for ChaCha: A Human-Powered Search Engine</title>
  
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  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211</id>
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    <link rel="service.edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=1/entry_id=5211" title="ChaCha: A Human-Powered Search Engine" />
    <published>2006-12-14T10:09:51Z</published>
    <updated>2007-12-16T23:16:38Z</updated>
    <title>ChaCha: A Human-Powered Search Engine</title>
    <summary>Written by Alex Iskold and edited by Richard MacManus Earlier this week Emre wrote a very informative and comprehensive overview of the Search space. Each of the profiled search engines has a unique approach. They deploy a range of sophisticated heuristics, clustering and machine techniques. In this article we look at ChaCha, a search engine...</summary>
    <author>
      <name>Alex Iskold</name>
      <uri>http://www.adaptiveblue.com</uri>
    </author>
    
    <category term="Search Services" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.readwriteweb.com/">
      <![CDATA[<p><i>Written by Alex Iskold and edited by Richard MacManus</i></p>

<p><img src="http://www.readwriteweb.com/images/chacha1.gif" align="left" vspace="5"
hspace="5" border="0" width="175" height="70" />Earlier this week Emre wrote a very
informative and comprehensive <a
href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/search_20_what_is_next.php">overview</a> of
the Search space. Each of the profiled search engines has a unique approach. They deploy
a range of sophisticated heuristics, clustering and machine techniques. In this article
we look at <a href="http://www.chacha.com/">ChaCha</a>, a search engine which brings a
fundamentally different kind of intelligence to the problem - human brain power.</p>

<p>The current implementation of ChaCha offers a combination of automation and
people-powered search. The results can be organized by a vertical, like images or news.
Also it has a set of related searches. But by far the most interesting and unusual aspect
of ChaCha is its <b>people-powered search</b>.</p>

<p>ChaCha <i>employs people</i> to help users sift through the results. This is cleverly
done using a familiar chat interface. When you first come to the site, you are presented
with a standard search box. Type in a query and you get back a traditional list of
matches. In the testing we did, we found both the performance and quality of the results
to be quite good.&nbsp;</p>

<p>But here's the kicker - if for some reason you are not happy with the quality of the
results, you can request a chat session with a (human) Search Guide to help you find what
you're looking for. The Guides get paid for this service - the one I spoke to told me she
gets paid $5 per search hour, which is the level for Guides after they reach "pro level".
She also said there are about 10,000 Guides in total, working from home.</p>]]>
      <![CDATA[<h2>Letting the search genie out of the bottle</h2>

<p><img border="0" src="http://www.readwriteweb.com/images/chacha2.jpg" width="500"
height="312" /><br />
<i>(note: we grayed over the name of the ChaCha Guide, for privacy reasons)</i></p>

<p>Here is the transcript of a session. I searched for '<strong>What is the population
of China?'</strong> and then called up the search guide to help. For privacy, I have changed
the name of the guide in the transcript to "Search Guide".</p>

<p><strong>Status</strong>: Connected to guide...<br />
<strong>Search Guide</strong>: Welcome to ChaCha!<br />
<strong>Search Guide</strong>: Hello<br />
<strong>Alex</strong>: hey there, how does this work?<br />
<strong>Search Guide</strong>: Give me just a moment to find your information.<br />
<strong>Search Guide</strong>: You ask for the information and I find the answers via
websites.<br />
<strong>Alex</strong>: ok, i am actually a journalist trying out the service<br />
<strong>Search Guide</strong>: Thanks for using cha cha.<br />
<strong>Alex</strong>: ok, and u yourself use chacha?<br />
<strong>Search Guide</strong>: I sure do.<br />
<strong>Alex</strong>: cool. do you get paid for this?<br />
<strong>Search Guide</strong>: Yes, we get paid $5 per search hour after we reach pro
level.<br />
<strong>Alex</strong>: can you tell me where you based and how many of you are
there?<br />
<strong>Search Guide</strong>: We work from our homes. There are about 10,000 of
us.<br />
<strong>Alex</strong>: are you in United States?<br />
<strong>Search Guide</strong>: Are these results sufficient?<br />
<strong>Search Guide</strong>: Yes, I'm in the US.<br />
<strong>Search Guide</strong>: Is there anything else on this topic I can find for you
today?<br />
<strong>Alex</strong>: Do you search and then hand send me the results?<br />
<strong>Search Guide</strong>: Yes, we do.<br />
<strong>Alex</strong>: Awesome - i love this.<br />
<strong>Search Guide</strong>: Great, glad to hear it.<br />
<strong>Alex</strong>: the only thing i do not get is your economics<br />
<strong>Alex</strong>: you get $5 per hour for this?<br />
<strong>Search Guide</strong>: What do you mean?<br />
<strong>Search Guide</strong>: Yes, we do?<br />
<strong>Alex</strong>: ok, thanks!</p>

<p>While I was chatting with the search guide, the results that she selected were
appearing on my screen. By comparing these results with the raw results that I got by
myself, I could tell that she was looking at exactly the same result set. What the guide
was doing was cherry picking stuff for me. If she liked a result, she would press a
button and it would appear on my screen, right in the standard result search area. I
thought this was slick, but there are three pressing questions:&nbsp;</p>

<p>1. Is this useful?</p>

<p>2. Can this scale?&nbsp;</p>

<p>3. How does ChaCha make money?</p>

<h2>Pros and Cons of ChaCha</h2>

<p>So who would be using this sort of thing, and why? The ChaCha about section
states:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>"By searching with a Guide your query is sent to a real person who is skilled at
finding information on the internet and knowledgeable on the subject at hand so that you
get the few exact results you want, not the millions of results you don't. ChaCha only
provides quality, human approved results."</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Well it does not seem like the tech savvy crowd would be interested. Clearly, people who
are not as web savvy are the primary target. The difficulty here though is that these
people would still need to know how to operate the computer, navigate to the ChaCha site
and then know what to do with the results. The problem with this though is that guides
are manually scanning exactly the same result set, so how much better can the outcome be?</p>
<p>According to the guide I spoke to, there are <a
href="http://underground.chacha.com/">10,000 people</a> signed up to do this with ChaCha.
This is a very large number considering the fact that the service is still in beta. In
practical terms, it seems like it could work - but it is difficult to imagine how it could
be done on the scale of Google.</p>

<p>And how about the economics? $5 per (search) hour seems a lot, considering there are
supposedly 10,000 guides. This works out to be hundreds of thousands of dollars per day!
So the numbers are quite high and given the fact there are <s>no</s> few ads on the site, the
pressing question is how are they planning to make money. We hope that someone from
ChaCha comments on this.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Let's not dismiss this too quickly</h2>

<p>All these negatives that we've pointed out paint a fairly gloomy picture. But we sense
that ChaCha has a few tricks up its sleeve that might not be readily apparent. What seems
to be going on is a massive Artificial Intelligence (AI) bootcamp. From the About
page:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>"The more you use ChaCha, the smarter and faster ChaCha becomes! Because ChaCha
indexes all the questions that are asked and associates them with the search engines and
resources used by Guides, and the links visited by the users, ChaCha knows where to look
and what the best human-approved resources are for each question or topic."</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This is a unique, interesting and clever twist on search. The entire human sifting process
is leveraged to train the automated engine to create, in essence, an equivalent of a page
rank. With time, ChaCha will get better and better - because more quality search results
will be discovered. For this to succeed, the number of guides needs to scale with the amount
of new information online - which is not simple. But we have to assume that the ChaCha
company has a plan for that. If it works, we'll get what I think will be the first
example of AI training done on such scale.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Do you think that this can work? Give it a try and let is know.</p>]]>
    </content>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41287</id>
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    <title>Comment from Nitink on 2006-12-14</title>
    <author>
        <name>Nitink</name>
        <uri>http://blog.softwareabstractions.com</uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://blog.softwareabstractions.com">
        <![CDATA[<p>Alex:</p>

<p>Here's an old <a href="http://blog.auinteractive.com/interview-with-scott-jones-creator-of-the-chacha-search-engine" rel="nofollow">interview with Scott Jones</a>, creator of the ChaCha search engine. And here's <a href="http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060904-044533" rel="nofollow">SearchEngineWatch on ChaCha</a>. Hope this helps!</p>

<p>Mind you, I'm very dubious about its feasibility, but hey, at least it's still operational. $5 an hour - if they're in the US, doesn't that run afoul of the minimum wage laws? At the risk of sounding elitist, I have to wonder at the web search expertise of people who work at that level, unless they're motivated by the idea of helping, or of moving to higher (expert) levels where they get paid more?</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-14T11:02:05Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41288</id>
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    <title>Comment from Adam Jusko on 2006-12-14</title>
    <author>
        <name>Adam Jusko</name>
        <uri>http://www.bessed.com</uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.bessed.com">
        <![CDATA[<p>I guess the question is, how many people need their hand held while they search? Unless I'm looking for something complicated, it probably takes more time to interact with a human guide than to simply do the search myself.  It's an interesting idea, but the question will be if people really want a companion to do the searches for them.</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-14T11:20:49Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41289</id>
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    <title>Comment from Josh on 2006-12-14</title>
    <author>
        <name>Josh</name>
        <uri>http://www.fiveqs.com/</uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.fiveqs.com/">
        <![CDATA[<blockquote>the fact there are no ads on the site</blockquote>

<p>Well, apparently they are at least planning to sell advertising somewhere, if they're not already, since they have this page: <a href="http://www.chacha.com/info/advertisers" rel="nofollow"><a href="http://www.chacha.com/info/advertisers" rel="nofollow">http://www.chacha.com/info/advertisers</a></a></p>

<p>And actually, from your screenshot it looks like they do have Google ads on their search results.</p>

<p>Also, I found this interesting article at WIRED that says that guides make between $5 and $10/hour, and that they're paid with debit cards--not cash.  <a href="http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71850-0.html?tw=wn_technology_1" rel="nofollow"><a href="http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71850-0.html?tw=wn_technology_1" rel="nofollow">http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71850-0.html?tw=wn_technology_1</a></a></p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-14T11:39:23Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41290</id>
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    <title>Comment from elvirs on 2006-12-14</title>
    <author>
        <name>elvirs</name>
        <uri></uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="">
        <![CDATA[<p>the search guide is just great.<br />
guide whose name was Sheri M. helped me to find the name of song in nokia nseries advertisement videos. <br />
s/he even found a preview song on last fm.<br />
they work:)</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-14T11:57:24Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41291</id>
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    <title>Comment from scottfrye on 2006-12-14</title>
    <author>
        <name>scottfrye</name>
        <uri></uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="">
        <![CDATA[<p>I day or two ago I was sent an email with a registation link and the details in getting started with ChaCha as a guide. To be honest I'm still thinking about whether I would like to become a guide for them or not. </p>

<p>From the material I read (the guide handbook and a video for guides showing how it works), it seems like a lot of work to just get to the point of getting paid $5 for each search hour. I'm not entirely sure how much work it takes to get to the pro level but it seems like a lot. Anyways, a few months ago I was unemployed and I had plenty of time to work with ChaCha but in about a month I will be returning to school so I'm not sure I will have time to work for ChaCha like I could have a few months ago. </p>

<p>I'm not entirely sure how much time has to be committed to actually gain any profit from working as a guide. But it maybe nice to see how it works. And just to let you know this little review makes me considering at least registering and seeing how it works from the inside.</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-14T11:59:26Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41292</id>
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    <title>Comment from John Doe on 2006-12-14</title>
    <author>
        <name>John Doe</name>
        <uri></uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="">
        <![CDATA[<p>I think like most people, I wrote it off as a bad search model early on, but your right, there is something here.</p>

<p>I see two major benefits. It helps low income wage earners by providing them additional income. Secondly, it has a search database that learns from it previous search results, which in theory should provide better search results faster, thus making it a better search engine.</p>

<p>I still have a problem with sustainability of the model, but as long at it keeps getting press, who knows.</p>

<p>I can also see the company easily expanding this model if it becomes successful, but something tells me it might not be that successful.</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-14T12:28:57Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41293</id>
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    <title>Comment from Ross M Karchner on 2006-12-14</title>
    <author>
        <name>Ross M Karchner</name>
        <uri>http://rossnotes.com</uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://rossnotes.com">
        <![CDATA[<p>(<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_minimum_wages" rel="nofollow">Per Wikipedia</a>) There is no place in the United States where $5/hour is a legal wage.</p>

<p>How do they get away with this?</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-14T14:27:12Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41294</id>
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    <title>Comment from Jim Smith on 2006-12-14</title>
    <author>
        <name>Jim Smith</name>
        <uri></uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="">
        <![CDATA[<p>Minimum wage does not apply to contract workers. These are not employees.</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-14T14:43:32Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41295</id>
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    <title>Comment from Bryan on 2006-12-14</title>
    <author>
        <name>Bryan</name>
        <uri>http://www.chacha.com</uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.chacha.com">
        <![CDATA[<p>One aspect of ChaCha that is great is the "Pay Me Now" model.</p>

<p>All of our guides can sign up with an Internet Bank that creates basically a checking account. They all receive ChaCha branded Debit Cards that can be used anywhere your typical debit/credit card can be used. </p>

<p>The kicker, you can pay yourself WHENEVER! If have $50 in your earnings and you want that $50 to take your gf/bf out to dinner, click "Pay Me Now" in your account settings, and within minutes you have $50 in on your debit card that you can go use.</p>

<p>Yes, I work for ChaCha, but I have yet to see any other "make money on the internet" program that will pay you instantly.</p>

<p>Great writeup btw.</p>

<p>-Bryan</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-14T14:49:00Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41296</id>
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    <title>Comment from jj on 2006-12-14</title>
    <author>
        <name>jj</name>
        <uri></uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="">
        <![CDATA[<p>LOL - is this a joke? This is like the idea of having a human filter spam one by one.</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-14T16:13:59Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41297</id>
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    <title>Comment from John Milan on 2006-12-14</title>
    <author>
        <name>John Milan</name>
        <uri>http://intelligantt.blogspot.com</uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://intelligantt.blogspot.com">
        <![CDATA[<p>What popped into my mind was travel-- especially international travel. Perhaps this is a bad assumption, but if ChaCha could link you with some familiar with a destination... I hate having to select hotels based on little pictures in my browser.</p>

<p>Language might be a problem; too many languages and combinations in the world. But in the US, just like you dial information when in a strange town, I could see using a service like ChaCha.</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-14T16:42:20Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41298</id>
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    <title>Comment from John Milan on 2006-12-14</title>
    <author>
        <name>John Milan</name>
        <uri>http://intelligantt.blogspot.com</uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://intelligantt.blogspot.com">
        <![CDATA[<p>I can't help it...</p>

<p>At $5 an hour, it might turn into a Human Rights Powered Search Engine :)</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-14T16:43:07Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41299</id>
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    <title>Comment from morcego on 2006-12-14</title>
    <author>
        <name>morcego</name>
        <uri></uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="">
        <![CDATA[<p>Interesting point about the AI bootcamp.  I have always wished Google had a button beside each link that you could click that would say "this choice is in no way related to what I was looking for and is basically just garbage or a list of meaningless names".  </p>

<p>Google is concerned that they cannot really *know* that a response is irrelevant.  But they could at least use an automated approach to knowing that certain choices are *likely* to be more relevant than others, just by letting us tell them.  Maybe they are concerned that such a system would be subject to abuse by people trying to down-rank their competitor's sites, but you'd think there'd be ways to prevent that.</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-14T17:44:14Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41300</id>
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    <title>Comment from Roger on 2006-12-14</title>
    <author>
        <name>Roger</name>
        <uri></uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="">
        <![CDATA[<p>Do they have enough ads in the results page?</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-14T18:25:54Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41301</id>
    <thr:in-reply-to ref="tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php"/>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php#c41301" />
    <title>Comment from neal on 2006-12-14</title>
    <author>
        <name>neal</name>
        <uri></uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="">
        <![CDATA[<p>Please tell me you were not paid by Cha Cha or their backers to write this review. I have seen this site been mentioned for the past two months in Wall Street Journal, Forbes, etc. I have tried to use it each time and it doesnt work!!!! Maybe now it does but I cant believe that such reputed publications will be talking about a site that just didnt work.</p>

<p>All I can say is that they have a fantastic PR team or their founders are well connected.</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-14T22:27:56Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41302</id>
    <thr:in-reply-to ref="tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php"/>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php#c41302" />
    <title>Comment from Alex Iskold on 2006-12-14</title>
    <author>
        <name>Alex Iskold</name>
        <uri>http://www.adaptiveblue.com</uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.adaptiveblue.com">
        <![CDATA[<p>Neal,</p>

<p>The reason we looked at ChaCha is that a user mentioned it in the comment on the Hakia post last week. Your suggestion is inappropriate, this is a serious blog and I write here what I think. Also, please note that other people found ChaCha interesting as did I. </p>

<p>I went to the site several times and it worked.</p>

<p>Alex</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-14T23:49:16Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41303</id>
    <thr:in-reply-to ref="tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php"/>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php#c41303" />
    <title>Comment from old school developer on 2006-12-14</title>
    <author>
        <name>old school developer</name>
        <uri></uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="">
        <![CDATA[<p>The obvious alternative to Cha-Cha's "human-powered search" is the "Ask a Librarian" service offfered by the the public library system in the US. That's right the public library system has a 24/7 live chat service staffed by professional reference librarians! </p>

<p>To use "Ask a Librarian" just go to the website for your local (or nearby) public library branch, and click on "Ask a Librarian". You'll then initiate a live chat with a reference librarian, located somewhere in the US, and at the end of your chat session you'll receive a transcript of your chat via e-mail.</p>

<p>There's no prohibition against international users either, unless you need to pick-up a book at the local library branch.</p>

<p>For the Los Angeles (California, US) Public Library System (http://lapl.org), the "Ask A Librarian" service is powered by AskNow.org (http://www.asknow.org/portal.cfm?lib=LAPL).</p>

<p>I use this service often for both work and personal stuff. A couple of quick caveats:</p>

<p>1) Is it Web 2.0 sexy? Hell no. But in terms of a quality research tool, there's no better resource than a professional librarian.</p>

<p>2) Browser compatibility may be an issue for some, as the back-end systems for the "Ask A Librarian" service in diffrent locales may be powered by varying vendors. Thus far I've had no real browser problems anywhere in the US, using one of the Mozilla variants or Safari (IE isn't available on Macs).</p>

<p>3) As a life-long geek/nerd, I've always had a soft spot in my heart for librarians. Hopefully, the "Ask a Librarian" service allows professional librarians to earn some additional salary as overtime. Librarians in the US are woefully underpaid.</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-14T23:54:37Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41304</id>
    <thr:in-reply-to ref="tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php"/>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php#c41304" />
    <title>Comment from Richard MacManus on 2006-12-14</title>
    <author>
        <name>Richard MacManus</name>
        <uri>http://www.readwriteweb.com/</uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.readwriteweb.com/">
        <![CDATA[<p>neal, I can assure you that this review is 100% independent. In fact we have never even been contacted by ChaCha or their backers (whoever they are).</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-14T23:55:15Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41305</id>
    <thr:in-reply-to ref="tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php"/>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php#c41305" />
    <title>Comment from old school developer on 2006-12-14</title>
    <author>
        <name>old school developer</name>
        <uri></uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="">
        <![CDATA[<p>Correction: The "Ask a Librarian" service powered by AskNow (http://asknow.org) is unique to the state of California. </p>

<p>Other public libraries in the US offer similar services, but may be only available during business hours for that locale.</p>

<p>Examples: The Library of Congress (Washington, DC) has an "Ask a Librarian Service with chat (http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/). Available chat services are indicated with a "talking bubble".</p>

<p>Many of these 24/7 "Ask a Librarian" services seem to be powered by QuestionPoint (http://www.oclc.org/questionpoint/about/default.htm), which is worldwide... so international users are okay.</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-15T00:25:23Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41306</id>
    <thr:in-reply-to ref="tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php"/>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php#c41306" />
    <title>Comment from Pramit Singh on 2006-12-14</title>
    <author>
        <name>Pramit Singh</name>
        <uri>http://mediavidea.blogspot.com</uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://mediavidea.blogspot.com">
        <![CDATA[<p>I think ChaCha would be better off focusing the B2B market. The Demise of Google Answers is a case in Point. Out of 10,000 registerd users, how many are actually participating?</p>

<p><a href="http://mediavidea.blogspot.com/2006/11/google-answers-demise-end-of-paid.html" rel="nofollow"><a href="http://mediavidea.blogspot.com/2006/11/google-answers-demise-end-of-paid.html" rel="nofollow">http://mediavidea.blogspot.com/2006/11/google-answers-demise-end-of-paid.html</a></a></p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-15T07:30:51Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41307</id>
    <thr:in-reply-to ref="tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php"/>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php#c41307" />
    <title>Comment from phgod on 2006-12-15</title>
    <author>
        <name>phgod</name>
        <uri></uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="">
        <![CDATA[<p>Well, will Google acquire Cha Cha?</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-15T16:01:35Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41308</id>
    <thr:in-reply-to ref="tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php"/>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php#c41308" />
    <title>Comment from Emre Sokullu on 2006-12-15</title>
    <author>
        <name>Emre Sokullu</name>
        <uri>http://emresokullu.com</uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://emresokullu.com">
        <![CDATA[<p>Interesting concept.. But I think the best human powered search engine is del.icio.us; a lot of people there.. they give you a satisfactory and **sustainable** incentive (=bookmarking) for using your brain to fine-grain their results. ChaCha's incentive (=$5) does not sound sustainable.</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-16T01:58:58Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41309</id>
    <thr:in-reply-to ref="tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php"/>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php#c41309" />
    <title>Comment from David Mackey on 2006-12-15</title>
    <author>
        <name>David Mackey</name>
        <uri>http://www.gamesecretary.com/blog.aspx</uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.gamesecretary.com/blog.aspx">
        <![CDATA[<p>This company with some work may eventually come out with a good workable idea, but my few visits to the site thus far have not left me impressed.</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-16T05:36:14Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41310</id>
    <thr:in-reply-to ref="tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php"/>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php#c41310" />
    <title>Comment from Juha on 2006-12-16</title>
    <author>
        <name>Juha</name>
        <uri>http://www.geekzone.co.nz/juha</uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.geekzone.co.nz/juha">
        <![CDATA[<p>ChaCha assumes that people will take it seriously and behave but... <a href="http://www.geekzone.co.nz/juha/1876" rel="nofollow">this is the Internet, and it's full of weirdos like yours truly. :)</a></p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-16T20:15:27Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41311</id>
    <thr:in-reply-to ref="tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php"/>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php#c41311" />
    <title>Comment from Richard MacManus on 2006-12-16</title>
    <author>
        <name>Richard MacManus</name>
        <uri>http://www.readwriteweb.com/</uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.readwriteweb.com/">
        <![CDATA[<p>What, no link love Juha? :-(</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-17T05:03:30Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41312</id>
    <thr:in-reply-to ref="tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php"/>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php#c41312" />
    <title>Comment from Juha on 2006-12-17</title>
    <author>
        <name>Juha</name>
        <uri>http://www.geekzone.co.nz/juha</uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.geekzone.co.nz/juha">
        <![CDATA[<p>Ha! I posted my brock entry before I read this one. Don't mind adding a link to Alex's story here though... stand by.</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-18T02:24:22Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41313</id>
    <thr:in-reply-to ref="tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php"/>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php#c41313" />
    <title>Comment from holly on 2006-12-20</title>
    <author>
        <name>holly</name>
        <uri></uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="">
        <![CDATA[<p>ChaCha has opened up invites again.  If you are interested in becoming a guide, please send me your qualifications to magicbeambuyer@inbox.com .  I'm looking for people who are serious about this.</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-20T17:20:03Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41314</id>
    <thr:in-reply-to ref="tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php"/>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php#c41314" />
    <title>Comment from Tom on 2006-12-28</title>
    <author>
        <name>Tom</name>
        <uri>http://www.yoparts.com</uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.yoparts.com">
        <![CDATA[<p>Hi,</p>

<p>  I just used this service and was pleasantly suprised by the effectiveness and the diffrent slant on search. My guide was Sue W.  She told me that she gets paid $5/hr + a commision of her (network) people that she has recruited to be guides off of the ads in chacha . Here is something that I noticed the some of the links that I orginally searched for <a href="http://search.chacha.com/search/query?query=adsense/" rel="nofollow">Adsense</a> If you look at the results you will see that there are sponsered results that are mixed in with regualar results...so I think they are making some $$$$ on most searches.</p>

<p>I like the social aspect especially if there are qualified guides.</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-29T05:51:38Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41315</id>
    <thr:in-reply-to ref="tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php"/>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php#c41315" />
    <title>Comment from Ryan on 2006-12-29</title>
    <author>
        <name>Ryan</name>
        <uri>http://www.eukhost.com</uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.eukhost.com">
        <![CDATA[<p>It does seem to be an interesting concept and new style of searching. There seem to be more than 10000 guides there and they have opened up invites again to recruit more guides. I wonder how do they make money to survive and to pay all those guides? Nevertheless its worth giving a try.</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2006-12-29T16:03:15Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41316</id>
    <thr:in-reply-to ref="tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php"/>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php#c41316" />
    <title>Comment from Max Shonfield on 2007-01-05</title>
    <author>
        <name>Max Shonfield</name>
        <uri></uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="">
        <![CDATA[<p>There is a People powered search engine that actually works, it is called AnooX (www.anoox.com)</p>

<p>It does not use this silly idea of chatting with people who are paid $5 per hour (below minimum wage) to find information for us! An idea that is as inefficient and un-scalable as I have heard :(<br />
Anoox is based on information democracy, that is the vote of the people determines the ranking of the search results.<br />
Also Anoox is not-for-profit, so the cost of Advertising on Anoox is like 90% less than Google or Yahoo. I tell you since we started Advertising on Anoox we have saved more than $2000 per month in advertising.<br />
I love em, they give us great search results, they give us much lower cost of advertising. Now that is what we need, a real alt to Google & Yahoo monopoly, one that scales.</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2007-01-06T06:38:08Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41317</id>
    <thr:in-reply-to ref="tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php"/>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php#c41317" />
    <title>Comment from Deb on 2007-01-06</title>
    <author>
        <name>Deb</name>
        <uri></uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="">
        <![CDATA[<p>HEY!!<br />
LISTEN YOU ALL UP, YES THE ONES WHO ARE TOO NEGATIVE. YOU ARE THE ONES WHO MAKE CHA-CHA RICHER BY GIVING IT MORE PUBLICITY. I DO KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE THAT ITS AWESOME! I JUST STARTED LAST WEEK.I HAVE EARNED KEYWORDS, I GET TRAINED,I MAKE MONEY AND, I HAVE REALLY GREAT PEOPLE-FRIENDS IN THERE. SO, IF YOU DON'T MIND ME SAYING? YOU OUT NOT PUT THE CHA-CHA GUIDES. I AM BEHIND THAT GREY BOX ACTUALLY WORKING FOR MY BEST SEARCH RESULTS FOR YOUR LITTLE PEE BRAIN BUTTS! I WORK THERE 'CAUSE I WANT TO,I ENJOY THE TRAINING, MEETING PEOPLE WHO WOULD LOVE MORE INFO O NANY TOPIC. AND, BESIDES WHAT DO YOU CARE IF WE AS GUIDES ALL GET PAID. I HAVE SEEN WEBSITE RESULTS COME UP THAT I HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE. SO, IF CHA-CHA IS GOING TO DROP OUTTA SITE? THEN I GO W/ IT TOO.. I WOULDN'T SIGN UP IF YOUR GONNA JUST BE A SPY.THATS AS USELESS AS GOING TO McDAONALDS AND, ASKING FOR A BRAND NEW CAR!!<br />
SO, NOW THAT  I AM DEFENDING MYSELF AS A GUIDE FOR CHA-CHA, BE FOR REAL AND, TRY IT OUT. I AM ONLY GOING INTO MY SECOND WEEK AFTER THIS WEDNESDAY AND, I HAVE SO MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR. ITS NOT EVERYDAY YOU GET ASKED TO BECOME A PART OF A COMPANY THAT HAS THE UTMOST BETA ,AND  INCCENATIVES FOR US AS GUIDES BUT, WHAT AN HONOR TO BE THERE.I DONT CARE ABOUT 5.00 OR 10.00 AN HOUR. ITS LIKE ANY JOB, CONTRACTER JOB. YOU NEED TO WORK YOUR WAY UP. SO, GIVE IT A TRY. YOU MAY NEED TO BE INVITED FIRST BUT, IF YOU ARE? I WOULD JUST BE THANKFUL!! 'CAUSE YOU DONT WANNA "f"- WITH CHA-CHA-. THEY CAN PICK UP A REAL POOH HEAD BUTT!!<br />
GOOD LUCK ALL OF YOU NEGATIVE TERD BALLS-- I AM GOING TO THE TOP W/ THE REST OF THE HAPPY CHA-CHA GUIDES...</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2007-01-07T00:14:26Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41318</id>
    <thr:in-reply-to ref="tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php"/>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php#c41318" />
    <title>Comment from Deb on 2007-01-06</title>
    <author>
        <name>Deb</name>
        <uri></uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="">
        <![CDATA[<p>OK, SO I MISPELLED A FEW WORDS. I WAS UGLY WHEN I WROTE THIS BLOG AND, I STICK MY WHAT I SAY AND, I SAY WHAT I MEAN!! YOU DONT KNOW UNLESS YOU TRY. YOU MAKE YOUR OWN HOURS. I CANT SAY ENOUGH BOUT IT. IF YOU WANT TO WORK FROM YOUR HOME,NOT DRIVE IN CRAPPY WEATHER,EAT BREAKFAST,LUNCH, CALL A FRIEND AND (etc),STILL WORK? THEN YOUR NUMB TO NOT GRAB A SLOT @ CHA-CHA-- <br />
I DONT LIKE TO SEE EVERYONE GET PEED OFF. OH AND, YES, WE DO OCCASSIONALLY USE GOOLGE AND, EVEN YAHOO. BUT, WE DO DEEP SCANNING. AND, LIKE I MENTIONED BEFROE, YOU GET A REAL LIVE PERSON.DO YOU PAY US ALL? NO, ITS FREE TO YOU SEARCHERS AND, I WOULD STILL DO IT FOR FREE! BUT, GUESS  I'LL SUK UP TO A MEASLEY 5.00 OR MAYBE EVEN 10.00 AN HOUR. WOW, CANT GO WRONG WITH THAT NOW HUH? DEFINITLEY NOT!!!!!<br />
SEE ALL YOU TERD BALLS IN A FEW WEEKS DYING TO GET IN THERE FOR AN INVITE.. ANYONE WHO IS SERIOUS? HEY, CONTACT ME AND, I WILL BE MORE THEN HAPPY TO GIVE YOU A SPOT UNDER ME...<br />
TOOTLES MY HAPPY BLOGGER, SNOOBERS!!! AND, FOR THE ONES WHO ARE SERIOUS? PLEASE EMAIL ME @ bakerr3@msn.com  -<br />
I APPRECIATE NO SPAM MAIL AND, RUDE EFFORTLESS, UNMEANIGFUL bs.....</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2007-01-07T00:23:41Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41319</id>
    <thr:in-reply-to ref="tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php"/>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chacha_human-powered_search.php#c41319" />
    <title>Comment from Jamie on 2007-01-06</title>
    <author>
        <name>Jamie</name>
        <uri></uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="">
        <![CDATA[<p>I JUST HAVE TO LAUGH AT THAT ONE.  GOOD JOB.  CHACHA GUIDES ROCK.  ITS' GREAT FOR PEOPLE THAT ONLY HAVE ONE VEHICLE AND FOR SINGLE PARENTS WHO HAVE TO WORK AT HOME BECAUSE THEY CANT AFFORD TO PAY FOR DAYCARE.  IT GIVES THEM A LITTLE EXTRA MONEY.  LIKE ME... MY HUSBAND AND I ONLY HAVE ONE VEHICLE AND HE WORKS ODD HOURS.  IT'S SOMETHING THAT I CAN SIT AT HOME AND NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT FINDING A WAY TO WORK.  IT'S NOT BAD. :O)  EVERYONE TAKE CARE..<br />
~JAMIE</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2007-01-07T06:21:22Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41320</id>
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    <title>Comment from JAMIE on 2007-01-06</title>
    <author>
        <name>JAMIE</name>
        <uri></uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="">
        <![CDATA[<p>OH AND I FOUND THIS WEBSITE ON CHACHA :p</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2007-01-07T06:22:39Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41321</id>
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    <title>Comment from Richard MacManus on 2007-01-06</title>
    <author>
        <name>Richard MacManus</name>
        <uri>http://www.readwriteweb.com</uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.readwriteweb.com">
        <![CDATA[<p>There's no need to shout :-)</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2007-01-07T07:14:07Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41322</id>
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    <title>Comment from Deb on 2007-01-07</title>
    <author>
        <name>Deb</name>
        <uri></uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="">
        <![CDATA[<p>Well Good morning my little terds-<br />
I am not going to shout ;)- However, i wanted to just post and, update you all please! Yesterday my StepDad passed away.And, do you know what? I went through He**. Aside from that, i went to work last night. I went on to my chacha back room,(its what i call it) signed in and, sat behind my computer. Yes, i worked!! Now, i seriously have seen alotta improvements even in these past few days.Do you know what the best part is once you get going? You get respect,you are mostly respected by idiots who play games w/ using the search browser and, you meet so many nice people. i spent over 12 minutes last night w/ a lady who peed me off.She wanted me to help her search deeper for olive oil.Well, eventually she had admitted to "no scratch that" and, i was at a dismay. I had thought i did something wrong.But, i hadn't. She litterally yelled , asked me why i didnt know her name? Now, why would i know someones name if they didnt already give it to me.And, i would have eventually asked. Not, that its my Business or i needed to know it. So, i went over my limits of helping, researching and, getting "b-d* by her over nothing.So, if you all are wondering if sitting at Home and, getting paid for nights like this? Then you dont care enough about your Jobs, the people around you or your just a stooge. Yea, it takes time to build up a good system in the ChaCha world but, people?, You seriously got to be behind there and, actually know waht it feels like. We as Ch Cha gudies arent by no means perfect but, we all trian everyday on our keywords,some of all we do is get new guides to train and, somedays we may even sit and, do completely nothing. I havent yet to see this one yet. See, i know my times to go on to help you all out and, i know the best times to possibly not go on.You are working w/ ChaCha and, your also a Contracter for them. It is like seriously going and advertizing for someone. We have i am sure all bragged about something. Except we as guides get paid tio train,sit back, help people and, learn, and, do it all over the next time we log in!! So, its not like we all go to work and,have it easy. Yes, it can seem easy and, have easier days but, the fact that the consistency is there is whats ground breaking. We love what we have and, we have what we love. I cant seriously say enough about it. Oh yea and, i trained about 6 or 7 people from 12:30 a.m. til 2:30a.m. and, got paid an extra ( on top of what i had previously) well over 15.00. Not bad for 2 hours huh? But, it wasn't the whole the 2 hours. I trained, got promotions on my keywords, put up w/ a few poop heads and, I got to talk w/ My Mom who's Husband just passed away. So, i am a Cha Cha guide that rocks!! and, i will forever be a guide!! Toodles my little terds =}.Have a good day!! I'll be back later- <br />
Sincerely yours,<br />
a proud ChaCha Guide, ~Deb =}</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2007-01-07T14:54:09Z</published>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <id>tag:72.47.210.69,2006://1.5211-comment:41323</id>
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    <title>Comment from Emre Sokullu on 2007-01-08</title>
    <author>
        <name>Emre Sokullu</name>
        <uri>http://emresokullu.com</uri>
    </author>
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://emresokullu.com">
        <![CDATA[<p>this is impossible, this makes $1.2mm daily burn rate</p>]]>
    </content>
    <published>2007-01-09T04:56:21Z</published>
  </entry>

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