It's all for charidy, mate.
September 20, 2006 4:49 AM   Subscribe

Goodtree. What is this?

Is it as dodgy as it looks?
posted by asok to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)
 
From the FAQ:

When I'm using GoodTree, when am I raising money for my charities?

Money goes to your charities when you search. We should repeat that. Money is generated when you simply search, not as you might expect, when you click on something. Thus, you aren't doing your charities any favors by clicking on results when you aren't really interested.


Um, I'm no internet genius, but: huh?
posted by hwickline at 5:51 AM on September 20, 2006


Yes, IMHO, it's designed to be appealing, and track everything you do on the web. That data is worth something- a self selected group of 'do gooders' (lets call them), and is probably the primary purpose behind the site.

I'm willing to be proven wrong, but the well-worn cynic in me says Yeah, YAS. (Yet Another Scam).
posted by pjern at 5:52 AM on September 20, 2006


Yeah, I wouldn't trust anything like this. My scam detector went off big time when I started to wade through the FAQ. It looks like a site who is trying to fool the big hearted into helping charities by offering them a way to do so with next to no effort.

If it's too good to be true, it usually is.
posted by Effigy2000 at 6:01 AM on September 20, 2006


It's possible there's a search company giving money to charity when someone uses that page (and hence, their search engine, and doublehence they get your data). For example, my understanding is every time you do a Google search in Opera's title bar (type "g " and your search), Opera gets a cut from Google. There could very well be something similar going on here.

Of course, on the other hand, it's just as likely it's a scam.
posted by inigo2 at 6:25 AM on September 20, 2006


In a similar vein, the recently launched GOOD Magazine lets you help non-profits by subscribing - 100% of the $20 subscription fee goes to one of 12 partner organizations of your choice. It is not a scam.
posted by Caviar at 7:17 AM on September 20, 2006


GOODSearch does something similar - it pays charities for your searches.
posted by divabat at 1:31 PM on September 20, 2006


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