Crowd Signals: Mentions on Forums and Platforms
Crowd signals are short messages on other pages: in forum threads, in comments, in guestbooks. Such a message mentions the material and includes a link to it. This is not a replacement for cascade links, but a background around them: live discussions make the increase in link mass less homogeneous.
Where Platforms Come From
The platform has its own pool of pages with forms. Each platform undergoes verification before use and receives a status: “Awaiting Verification”, “Being Verified”, “Form Found”, “Verified” (the message has been published, and the verification code has been found on the page) or “Failed”. Only verified addresses are used — tasks on dead pages are not created.
How a Crowd Task is Structured
- The cascade reaches the final level, and articles at this level are verified — crowd is created only for those that are truly alive.
- A specified number of messages is planned for each such article: in the flexible tariff, this is a separate field “Crowd”.
- For each message, its own text is generated in the project language — Russian, Ukrainian, English, or Polish — with its own introduction, signature, and address. Identical messages are not sent out.
- The robot fills out the form on the platform and sends the message. If the platform puts comments on moderation, the task is marked as requiring verification.
How Crowd Differs from Cascade Publications
| Parameter | Cascade Publication | Crowd Task |
|---|---|---|
| What is Placed | An article prepared by AI based on your anchors | A short message in someone else's thread |
| Whose Page | The platform's account on the publication platform | Someone else's page, we do not manage it |
| Where the Link Leads | First level — to your page, subsequent ones — to a publication one level higher | To the final level article of the cascade |
| How Volume is Counted | By levels, see cascade levels | A specified number of messages for each final level article |
| Where in the Report | Sections by levels | A separate section “Crowd Tasks” |
Where This is Visible
In the crowd launch window, it is enabled by a separate switch, and a line “Crowd Mentions” appears in the summary with the total number; the cost is included in the launch price — see tariffs and price. During operation, the cascade goes through the stages “Preparing Crowd” and “Crowd is Executing”. In the report, the “Crowd Tasks” section shows the platform itself, the target article, and the status of each task — more details in the article report and statuses.
Common Misconceptions
- “Crowd will replace links”. No: a message in someone else's thread is weaker than an article and is not intended to transfer weight.
- “The message will stay forever”. Not necessarily: the platform moderator has the right to delete it, and this is a normal part of the channel.
- “You can take one crowd, without a cascade”. No: it works as support for publications and is enabled only together with the first level.