I quit ChaCha.

And lest ye think I am flighty and non-committal, let me explain why.

My first month on ChaCha was great. It seemed every time I logged in, I'd get a steady stream of questions to answer. Questions which were usually reasonable, and not too hard to find the answer to. In an hour's time, I'd easily make $3 - 5. Plus, I was getting 100% scores on all of my answers, which caused me to become an "in-demand" guide. Meaning, I was just getting tons of questions when I logged in, and I liked it. I felt like I was actually working.

But THEN. At the end of May, I got a question I thought was relatively easy. The person wanted to know what the water temperature in Santa Barbara was. I found the answer, cited my source, and moved on.

Somehow, I got a 0% on that particular question. Why, I don't know. I didn't dispute it in time, so it shall forever remain a mystery.

So, guess what happened to my 100% average? It dropped below the minimum requirement of 95% (plummetted, actually. To 85%). And guess what happened to the questions? They pretty much stopped coming.

I'd sit on ChaCha daily, during Bubs' nap, and I'd get maybe 3 questions in the 2-hour timeframe. Roughly, 22 cents an HOUR. That's close to the wage of a sweat factory worker.

I was frustrated. Here I am, a college grad, a grammarian AND a journalist who really knows how to work the Google, and ChaCha finds me unworthy to do their bidding. Puh-LEASE. I am so over it.

So, I cancelled my account. I should be getting the $35.99 I earned in the mail sometime within the next two months. So yeah, it's not like I was doing it for the money.

Would I recommend being a ChaCha guide to a friend? Sure. If you are going to be at home all day anyway, you might as well put your Internet surfing to good use and make some money while doing it. But, 10 cents per question is not going to feed your family, no matter how extraordinary of a guide you are. And you'll probably be severely deflated when you answer a question incorrectly (yes, EVEN QUESTIONS THAT HAVE NO ANSWER) and suddenly find yourself cut off from the rest of the ChaCha Universe.

But, you can always cancel your account if you hate it.

As for me, I wish I could find a decent work-at-home job ... but it seems impossible at this point.