Pet Peeve #3894
I don’t know about you, but I really cannot stand Craigslist Crusaders. This is the name I’ve given to the folks on Craigslist who constantly flag ads for removal in the freelance writing gigs section of the site. They go after ads that offer what they consider to be “insulting” pay rates, such as $3.50 for a 300-word content article. They whine that this isn’t minimum wage and no writers can “make a living” earning $3.50 per article. By flagging the ad, details are removed, and nobody else can contact the person who initially put the gig offer in place.
I’m sorry, but who are these folks to determine which wages are acceptable to others??? There are some people (like me) who don’t need to make a full-time living from these writing “gigs” (note that they’re gigs, not jobs), but would like very much to supplement their income in some way.
Personally, I have been writing content articles for four years now, and have made a great deal of money that way. I have never earned more than $5 per article. Granted, that’s not a lot of money on a per-piece basis, but it adds up. And what some people might not realize is these content places aren’t looking for great literature. You’re basically asked to simply write fluff pieces incorporating certain keywords a certain number of times. As long as the article makes sense, it’s accepted. There are no revisions or rewrites necessary, so it takes maybe 20 minutes tops to write one of these articles, especially at just 300 words each.
Even if I just do 2 per hour, that’s $7 for my time, which is more than what I would make working at McDonald’s or whatever. No, I wouldn’t be able to sustain that type of production for 8 hours a day, nor would I want to make a career out of this kind of writing. But to supplement my income? Sure, why not? As I said, I’ve done it for the past four years, and have made enough to pay tuition for completing my Bachelor’s degree and for one year of grad school (so far) without taking out a single student loan. Not bad for “slave wages”, huh?
I wish these Craigslist Crusaders would just mind their own business. They might be too proud to take these low-paying gigs for themselves, but they shouldn’t ruin it for others. The crusaders think that by removing these ads, they’re “forcing” people to pay better wages. Yeah, right. This has been going on for years and the rates have not changed one iota. Why don’t the snobs go write for the New Yorker or something and leave the other gigs for the rest of us!!!