Demand Media Studios has a system set up. This system gives the Content Editors (CE) an advantage over the freelance writer. Everybody working for Demand Studios must have a profile. When an article, needing edits, lands in a CE's editing cue, they know who the freelance writer is.
They edit the article, and either approve it for publishing, or kick it back to the writer, with comments.
When the freelance writer gets the article, all they know is that a CE reviewed it. They don't know which CE reviewed their article. This anonymity allowed the CE to say things they normally wouldn't say to the freelance writer's face. This opened the door for CE's to psychologically abuse the freelance writer.
I've written for publishers and marketers. They've provided me with feedback on my writing. They were always professional, gave me actionable advice, and treated me like a human. They understood what Demand Media Studios' CEs didn't, that my writing was valuable to the overall effort.
Both, the editor and the writer are members of a team. They're not hostile enemies in a perpetual state of war.
Many content editors treat writers like "retards." They force the writer to rework their articles with the assumption that the reader is also a "retard."
With the CE being a faceless entity, the freelance writer is dealing with an "unseen" nemesis... one that abuses its veil of anonymity.
Demand Media should've set their system up fairly.
Freelance writers should know who they're working with. It helps to know who to complain about if a CE is abusive, or abrasive. If enough writers named this one CE in their complaints, Demand Studios could take action.
Content Editors were able to evaluate the freelance writer's work. The writers had no way of evaluating the content editors.
DMS had a one way system in place. Their Content Editors had control of a freelance writer's writing future with Demand Media. Their freelance writers had no way to influence a CE's editing future with DMS.
Result? You had Content Editors that had power trips and who overdid their jobs. They could make comments like, "Tell the reader which way to turn the screw!" or ask questions like, "Which end of the pencil goes into the pencil sharpener?"
Demand Media's CEs abused multiple writers, and refused to hear many of their complaints. They controlled what happened on their forums. These forums were partly intended as a place a writer could voice his suggestions and complaints.
One freelance writer had enough of this. Enter the, "Demand Studios Sucks," complete with its own forums. Many freelance writers migrated from Demand Studio's forums to the DSS forums to voice their real opinions.
Since money talked, many of these posters kept writing for Demand Studios.
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