Examiner.com asks writers to join and contribute. They require you to waste your time filling out an application. But, they don't tell you in their "application" that they require a social security number. They send you an email expecting you to email your SSN. Nasty.
They say that they will do a background check on contributors. No idea why. No one else on the web does this. Even print magazines pay by check to the name on the article. I have to wonder why Examiner.com is so hot to get writers' social security numbers.
And, criminal records are public information. Checks can be done without the SSN. I did not give my SSN and will not contribute to their site.
Once they have your SSN, they can do whatever they want. They claim that they won't investigate your credit but who knows.
After I complained, they claimed that they needed the SSN because they were "employing" writers. Examiner.com claims to pay $10/1000 visits to the articles you write. However, I don't know anyone who has been paid. Google pays better than that and they don't require anything. Same with Paypal transactions.
All in all, IMHO, I'd stay far away from Examiner.com
BTW, their "news" is written by people who are not necessarily journalists.
Lori
Canton, Georgia
U.S.A.