Not necessarily. The original "bounty" in the world of crypto and blockchain was actually just a reward, just as the name suggested, for finding security bugs or recovering information (associated with computer security or whitehat hacking). Over time, as more alternative blockchain-based cryptocurrencies launched and vied for the attentions of a small community, bounties were given out to those willing to spend a bit of time spreading awareness of them.

It is still a good method of propagating projects: widest possible distribution, and bounty programs helped achieve this. There is much said about their effectiveness, these days, however.

That's right. Not all bounties are built the same. For that consideration, not all participants are built the same, and not all managers, and not all projects. We all have to stop treating all these individual aspects like they are one and the same.

The original ideas behind bounties (other than bug bounties and security bounties) were solid, and marketing driven. However, due to the popularity and perceived returns, these ideas have become diluted, their objectives less attainable.

There are many resources you can find online, and even right here on this forum. Just be sure to keep an open mind about what you read, and make your own decisions, not based on what is claimed but on what is objectively said and what you yourself will experience.

We have some helpful articles aimed specifically at newcomers who want to learn more about bounties. You can read them at any time at our website bounties.biz (it even has a list of bounties you might be interested in) and our blog at Steemit: https://steemit.com/bounties/@amazixbounties/

Always remember, though, nothing is better learnt than trying it out yourself!

Actually, most, if not all bounty programs have some kind of minimum requirement for you to join - this is quite natural and, arguably, necessary. Not only for fraud prevention (having no requirements makes a program susceptible to fraud) but also for ensuring fairer compensation for more experienced bounty participants and better value for the project's marketing.

Knowledge and information helps everyone involved of course, but so do other intangible skills (creativity being one of the most overlooked).

Another option to consider is to look for projects that you actually like and have an interest in. That way, should you earn some tokens, you can always use them at the project once/when their product/platform launches. You get access to products and services with their tokens, which itself is a win for you. Remember, adoption and use are far more helpful in a token ecosystem than mere holding of tokens and trading of them - ultimately, demand drives value.

In case you missed it, our latest blog post on Medium underlines the importance of research in driving the knowledge economy - increasingly recognized by modern economists as a direct contributor to economy, when measured in GDP.

We talk about the unfortunate situation with scholarly articles and scientific research, about the "publish or perish" syndrome held in place by research monopolies... with quite serious consequences, much of which happens without public knowledge.

Orvium looks to help redress these flaws, starting with decentralization of scientific research. Let us know what you think!

There are a few principles to apply when it comes to opportunity. Two of my favorites are:

1) If it's too good to be true, it probably is. This of course has become a nuanced statement in crypto, especially when we've only just passed by the bull runs of Bitcoin and most alts. Tell anyone from traditional finance and economics and they'll tell you anything more than 5% a year is too good to be true.

But it goes without saying that guaranteed profits are a red flag for scams, which is what your site is claiming.

2) Assume everything is not legitimate until proven otherwise. With so many scams out there, there are even scams that help perpetrate other scams. By promoting the websites in question and claiming you've been paid is only helping these sites proliferate. Be careful in what you promote, even the best of us will surely make mistakes. Can't win every time.

I think what OP is trying to say is that a lot of these terms and rules, and the way bounties work, seem apparent to us as veterans but can be confusing for newcomers, and in fact also confusing for experienced hands.

This is clear when you get a lot of bounty hunters joining programs and then finding out, to their surprise, that they are later disqualified or are not earning tokens to their expectations. There are a lot of resources that help introduce the concepts to newbies, the OP's post demonstrates a few, including AmaZix's which also publishes guidance on their bountiez.biz blog.

Don't dismiss newcomers so easily, we all started out without knowledge.

There's actually quite little research available on effectiveness of social media campaigns - but you also need to consider what is deemed effective. If the campaign's aim is simply to promote awareness of the project, then this is typically achievable by this method: content is pushed out to new and diverse audiences. The more reputation and credibility owned by the social media owners, the higher the conversion (of readership at least).

There is a definite correlation, however. The more successful ICOs have had huge social media followings, with their own followers also promoting well the brand and ideas to their own audiences. Perhaps in time, metrics will be more easily obtainable, as people become more crypto aware, audiences are more likely to engage beyond their first exposure on social media.

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Any kind of fraud is harmful beyond the project or person that is the victim. Perhaps in the past, bounty programs and airdrops were less concerned about scammers and fraud because it was a free for all, but the crypto sphere has come to realize that it needs to crack down hard on cheaters. Dumping of ICO tokens upon listing is the most obvious, which hurts the projects and those who genuinely support it, but also the intended objective of widespread adoption - which is the main agenda of all bounty programs (with the exception of bug bounties).

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It's good to see that community management is listed there, and finally being recognized as one of the key elements of successful ICO marketing. Crypto communities are vastly different from the communities and shareholders of traditional companies and organizations. They are much more informed, tech savvy, and often have experienced and knowledgeable people so can be very quick to question, criticize and discuss ICO projects. Ensuring that these communities and their expectations are well managed is crucial!

One thing that traditional marketing continues to ignore is how much it has to catch up with modern trends regarding consumers. Users and communities now want to be involved, engaged, and be part of the value growth of the company/brand/project.

Apart from choosing bounty programs that will benefit you, it's also helpful to think for the long-term prospects of the individual. Ideally, the bounty you join should also be for a project that resonates with you. It should be an idea or product you are interested in or have knowledge about, it should be about objectives you believe in and are willing to honestly and objectively support. Participating in a bounty shouldn't simply be based off the aim of instant reward, when you promote a project, you're becoming part of its community. And we all know that projects are only as successful as their communities.

If you actually support a project with the above in mind, you're better able to talk about it, better able to support their objectives. Mutual benefit, mutual value!

You're making a slight assumption there, though. The SEC hasn't yet recognized Ethereum or even Ether (either as a company or as a token) as having violated any regulations. It does appear that many believe Ether to be a security (they will have a hard time fitting it into that definition), but it was never ever "distributed wrongly".

And despite its highly centralized leadership, it has actually attained a very high level of decentralization, network wise. It has nodes that are distributed wider geographically, when even compared to Bitcoin, for example. It has been very resistant to PoW centralization as well and the coming PoS algorithm switch will see it becoming almost impervious to PoW monopoly.

There are a fair number of bounty management companies out there now, and on this forum itself you can find bounty managers that run several campaigns themselves. You might be able to ascertain the quality of the projects simply by the management of their bounties, assuming you would trust the reputation of the managers.

AmaZix is one such firm with a proven track record of bounty management for some of the biggest projects since last year. Check out the official thread here on bitcointalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3308895.0

It is managing many ongoing bounty campaigns right here on the forum too, feel free to check them out.

Of course, as user butka above says, there are many others to choose from but it's important to make sure you contribute quality to improve your chances of potential earnings - in fact, quality is something AmaZix prioritizes, as it maintains high standards for all bounty campaigns.

Good luck!