Daisy's last comment reminded me of something I had wanted to say last post but couldn't because of time constraints.
As to the issue of the Guide who got demoted from Master to Apprentice after conducting over four thousand searches, while that, by itself, has got to be the funniest thing I've ever read, it, too, isn't so shocking if you think about it.
I want you all to dredge up your earliest memories of being a ChaCha guide. Remember how you first signed into the system, were an Apprentice, and then two hours later were a Master?
Some expressed their doubts about this way of "leveling up" and it reminded me of a multiplayer game online except even with those it takes time to reach each level. You have to actually do work, if you get my drift. I made Master in my first day of ChaCha and I still didn't understand all the functions inside the application. How could I help Infoseekers when I was still in virtual darkness about what was expected of me? And when I was training I had other misinformed people to work with who were just as clueless as I was. As were Willie's training videos that I swore were going to give me nightmares due to the overwhelming bubbliness of her "character". When it was finally announced she was an actress so many people were shocked as if there are people out there that are really that happy. All the time.
My point to this issue is that ChaCha can't even decide on what makes a good Guide. They can't make a distinction between an Apprentice, a Pro, a Master and an Elite person. Don't you think that's odd? Unsettling? I daresay, lazy?
Since they've been allowing people to be mislabeled from the start, the fact that they are demoting people now isn't nuts, it's going along with their logic that they've shown from the start.
What defines an Apprentice?
To my mind an apprentice is someone that studies underneath a Master to learn a specific trade. Okay, so ChaCha did do that. They made every single guide train with others but was the training worth it? Did you learn anything? If you want to be a nurse you have to pass a series of tests. ChaCha should have said, from the beginning, each Guide would be an Apprentice for a period of X amount of weeks and after that time went by where they were able to be comfortable with the system they would need to take a test. This test would be automated in the system and would ask the guide questions based on the application to test their knowledge of it. It could have also included questions relating to the company and its policies at the time. No one else would be involved. Just the guide and the automated test so that accusations about unfair trainers would not have come to pass. After successful completion of this test the Apprentice would be promoted to Master.
Now, stop. The Apprentice stage has now been completed. There's no need to go back to this stage ever. If the trainee fails the test, they don't move on.
Assuming the trainee passes they move onto the Pro stage. Now they have the ability to take real Infoseekers on and this was a huge mistake as far as I'm concerned. They should have been refining their skills and working with higher level guides but since most of the higher level guides didn't know what they were doing either, a lot of Guides at this stage weren't being trained properly. Truly, I think this stage should have been eliminated alltogether. But it's there. So common sense should have said that during this stage the guides would be training with higher guides and continuing to learn the system. After a period of X amount of weeks they would be given another test that built upon their Apprentice level knowledge and now their Pro level. Upon successful completion of this test the guide would move to Master.
What defines a Master?
This is someone that is an expert, not someone who has used a program for a day and a half. I'm sorry. You aren't a Master of ChaCha in a day or even a week. Maybe after a month or so, but not the short amount of time it took people to level up to this stage. During this stage the guides should have been partnered up with other more experienced Master guides and these guides would have shadowed them, or been in the same session, with real Infoseekers to observe what went on. They should have been able to speak only to the guide to give advice and steer them in the right direction but the Infoseeker would not be able to see what they were typing. Again, at the end there's a test and also a review by the individual Master guides who chaperoned giving their opinions on how the Guide did which would have been sent to HQ privately. Then after this stage's goals were met, the guide would have been able to work on their own and to start training other guides.
As for the elusive Elite level, again, never should have been made because there weren't many that were able to attain it. So you had a system that had three levels which were ridiculously easy to get to but one level that wasn't and all throughout it was unclear as to what exactly someone had to do to get to Elite as the requirements were changed almost as often as the rest of the policies were.
What they've essentially done with this particular Master guide who was demoted down to Apprentice is what Hollywood did to Joan Crawford by making her take a screen test in the latter stages of her career. What a slap in the face! Here was a legendary screen siren being asked to do what upstart actors and actresses have to do to prove their worth. It was awful for her and I'm sure it was awful for the guide in question. As I'm sure it would be awful for anyone that has gone through it.
My gripe is this could have all been avoided had certain people used their heads from the start.
I'm not a programmer but I happen to know that if you were to ask any programmer out there what one of the steps to coding software is, they would tell you that they need to identify what the end user is going to use the program for. Programming, believe it or not, is based on a series of questions that the programmers ask of the people who are going to eventually use the program. Just like people are hired to resolve problems, software is made to alleviate problems or make certain tasks quicker.
We've all heard these essential questions before.
What?
When?
Where?
How?
Why?
Who?
Sound familiar, yet? Some of the questions that should have been asked are something like:
What is this program going to be used for? Programmers need to know the problem their software is going to resolve otherwise why make it?
When will this program be used? It's important to know if this is going to be an application that is going to be used twenty four hours a day or just once in awhile. It needs to be extra stable if it's going to be relied on as heavily as ChaCha's app is. Stability with an app like this is integral.
Where will this program be used? If the program is just going to be used at the corporate office then certain security features don't need to be included because it's going to reside on servers that are already protected. However, if the program is going to be used in people's homes the programmers can't depend on the end users themselves to protect the company's software product or the information it produces.
How and Why are interchangable for the above questions but the most important of all the questions the programmers should of asked is Who.
Who is going to use the software?
The answer to this question was what Indy's company's future was resting on and the ChaCha app was not designed for the people who actually use it. It was designed to be used by, well, the programmers.
Typically applications that are designed for remote workers or telecommuters are built as self explanatory as possible. Not because the programmers have a lot of time on their hands to spell everything out but they want to reduce the amount of CALLS the technical support department will undoubtedly receive if the program is confusing in anyway. Applications like this will have a lot of tool tips and tutorials. The videos or training documentation that accompanies it will be step by step. Chacha's documentation was pitiful.
The more time the workers spend on the phone trying to fix problems they are having using the software the less productive they are. Anyway, that's my lesson on programming and end users for the time being.
Now I want to get on the soapbox of the Monday Walk Out and the Negative Ratings Machine. I am speaking only to the individuals who would sign in come next Monday and purposefully rate their fellow Guides bad just for being in the system.
You low-down fucking cowards, you.
There. I feel better. 
If you don't want to use ChaCha, have the BALLS to write in your graffiti a note that says "I no longer wish to participate in ChaCha because I disagree with their business practices." Press the Submit button. Exit out of the program. Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs and delete the fucking application off your computer. Then go to your email client and address a letter to customercare@chacha.com with the subject line "Please Remove My Account" and explain WHY you no longer wish to be a part of the program OR....(and this is going to shock some mental midgets out there I'm SURE) you know the stupid emails you get from ChaCha all the time?
Scroll down to the bottom where there's an option to Opt-Out. Yeah...wow....didn't realize that, huh? If you do so, you are automatically deactivated as it clearly states if you don't wish to receive their emails you obviously don't want to be a Guide. DUH.
That's taking the easy way out which cowards like you are accustomed to but don't you dare go trying to negatively affect other people's Guide accounts simply because you think bullying people will gain you their favor.
You want to go? GO. But don't take anyone with you. That's just so damn fucked up I don't know where to begin.
I want to see how many people actually have the gumption to back up their words on the boards with real action.
Leave the innocents out of it.
I'm willing to bet no one that is so vocal about the walk-out and leaving negative ratings does this. But if you do, I want screenshots of your graffiti sections that will be verified. You can send them to nochachacheerleader@yahoo.com
Put up or shut up.