Amazing

[pecunium]

I've been looking at some job sites. One of them seemed half promising, I didn't look at the fees, but I started cruising the listings; looking at the writing gigs.

Lots of chances to to do web-related pseudoblogging. None of it seems to pay all that well; though some of them have what look to be decent money available, until you look at the fine print.

Some of the better gems:


Urgent OVERNIGHT Project Very Simple

I have an urgent need for some copy to be written overnight need of some copy. The job involves writing 60 paragraphs of copy on a subject that I will specify in an interview. Please do not attach writing samples, and be prepared to interview on Yahoo Messeger within the next thirty minutes if possible. I need this copy by 8 a.m. in the morning EST, no later. There will be additional work of this type for someone who can perform. These paragraphs need to be about three to four sentences long and you must know how to create anchor text which links the page to another page by clicking on a link. Please DO NOT APPLY if you do not know how to do this, because you WILL NOT BE PAID if you write the copy without appropriate anchor text. Do not apply if you are bidding over the budget specified, or if you require upfront payment, as your work must be tested to assure appropriate anchor text is applied before you will be paid.


It pays 15 dollars. Assume eight sentences per graf, and 3.3 sentences per graf, round it off to 1,600 words / 1,500 pennies, and you get almost a penny a word, with constraints (those "anchor words").


Whoo-hoo.

Over in Graphic Art/Design there is one which looks a little better:

Seeking a professional who has experience with HTML newsletter design and has a portfolio to show samples of their work. You must have samples to be considered. A cover letter is also a must for consideration. Please include in your cover letter: 1. What eNewsletter programs have you used or worked with in the past (i.e. constant contact, etc.) Excellent communicaiton and a deadline driven person is needed for this position.

Ok... and it pays $3,400, with an estimate of 592 hours worth of work... or about $6 an hour.

Freelance, and contract, so minimum wage isn't an issue, and it's part time... ten hours a week. Easy money right?


It's not as easy as this one:

If you are a native English writer, this job may be for you if you are looking for feedback on Odesk. I have an immediate need for 10 articles within the next two days. I will not pay upfront, but I will pay 1/2 after the first five have been written, the other half after the last five is submitted and approved by me. I will only accept work that is 100% English in origin, and it must pass copyscape by 100%.Please contact me for details at susanc01@yahoo.com, or by applying here on Odesk. The fee is $3 per article, if you don't agree with the fee, don't waste your time or mine by applying. Further, if you can't write the articles within two days, don't bother to apply either. I will have more work for the right person coming up.

So... the deal is you do five on spec... meet the threshold of anchor text and you will get half the money.

How much is this gem going to net... $30

What, you may ask is copyscape? It's a Google API based plagiarism detector. I wonder how fine grained it is... think it might be possible the work "fails" copyscape, but ends up on the net somewhere?

One can only hope she gets no more than she pays for.

My favorite though is this one:



Writing > Blog / Article Writing
This is a fulltime position and person must be able to provide full attention to these tasks. Need a writer for various topics. The successful candidate will also rewrite articles to make them unique, create press releases and do some transcribing. Expected to work Monday through Friday and with quick turn around time.

Ok. How much work?

Hourly (52 weeks, 40 hrs/week)

The rate they are offering the person possessed of these skills, and willing to do it as a full time job?

Hourly: $3>

Ye gods and little fishes.

Comments

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

srsly, WTF.

this is so appalling (boy am I an LJ addict!) that I nearly uploaded a new icon, just for this entry.

ye gods and little fishes, I hope NOBODY takes those jobs. What a bunch of scams.

[summers-place.livejournal.com]

Speaking of icons, yours here is awesome. WANT.

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

gank away. I got it via ironychan, whose webcomic get_medieval I read for years. (this icon is from there)

[summers-place.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[editrx.livejournal.com]

Welcome to my world. This is why I am no longer writing full time (or even part time) in the tech field -- the pay at professional gigs went from my usual $1/word down to less than 20 cents per word in one year flat. And that was over five years ago. It's worse now.

And copyediting and proofreading? Even at publishers, I am being paid the same rates I made in 1989 -- a significant rate drop from even a few years ago. If I tell them I won't take the pay drop? I don't get any work at all.

We are very close to losing the house every month. Soon we won't be able to make due at all. When that happens ... I don't know what I'll do. I've been in this business since 1984. It's not like I have a second job I can go train for, since the lupus keeps me from working outside the home (and ain't gonna get better for lack of medicine, as I find I can't get it anymore when I lose the ability to pay insurance). I didn't ever dream this would happen, saved all my life, and now my investments are worth crap. Yeah.

Happy days.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Those are worse than the ads I've seen on elance, but I've never yet even tried for one, just because the terms seem so strict for so little money, and so many of the jobs look scammy, that I haven't been able to bring myself to do so. No, I will not figure out how to rewrite that Wikipedia article ten different ways, just so someone can pass it off as original. *shudder*

[izzylobo.livejournal.com]

This is why, once I dig my last check out of the Wolf's claws, I will be doing no more work for them, nor any work for any gaming industry company that is not, well, me.

I've been writing gaming fu for nigh unto 20 years, on and off. I'm making basically the same rate I always was - and the opportunities for rate upgrades for hardcovers, or for emergency jobs, has all but disappeared.

Screw it. I can make more working extra hours at my day job, and not have to pull teeth to actually get paid. If the creation urge itches, I can do some pdfs or something - I've got lines on some artists.

[shunra.livejournal.com]

How about translation? Or interpreting? I think you have the skills, and the market has the need (more and more, recently).

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

I wonder how fine grained it is... think it might be possible the work "fails" copyscape, but ends up on the net somewhere?

It's also nearly impossible to pass any of the plagiarism detection programs 100% -- when we were testing SafeAssign, my submitted papers all came back at around 92%-95%. The 5% to 8% that was potentially plagiarized? That would be where I used the title of the work I was analyzing, or used the name of a character without citing a page number.

[lyorn.livejournal.com]

There are so many people who think they can do those jobs that the people who announce them believe everyone can do them.

Friend of mine who used to be a design student had it happen more than once: Someone wanted a complex design, too stingy to hire a professional for 10K, went to a student (my friend, in this case), looked at the price tag (2K) and decided that there was no shortage of amateurs who'd do it for 200. And there probably isn't, but do you want your corporate design done by a computer science student who believes that they'll just be coding your webpage and plan to be done in three days?

And, yes, they get what they pay for.