Demand Studios Sucks Also Sucks -- Why DSS Will Follow DMS Downhill, Unless They Change Their Focus

I created a posting profile on Demand Studios Sucks. I jumped on the introduction forums, and created my first post. The first response was a confused look smiley, and the second response was a flame.

I responded, and got a flame war. I fired back, salvo after salvo. Had one person, also brand new, attack me. I responded and put her in her place. After a few exchanges, the administrators banned my username. The reason for the ban? "Irrelevant posts."

My replies had everything to do with the responses. The opposition's arrogance blinded them to a glaringly obvious fact. Other than my first post, the rest of my replies were reactive. They were dependent on what the opposition said. You'll see my final set of replies below this post.

Moderators, on real message boards, would lock a thread if it contains nothing but irrelevant posts. That didn't happen on Demand Studios Sucks.

They left the thread open, so that more posters could come in and make irrelevant posts.

Reading the responses, I came up with a profile for a typical poster. Demand Studios Sucks poster, Groundskeeper Willie, sums up some of their traits. He broke the trend, reprimanding the other posters. Through the course of the exchange, he made this comment:

[quote]Originally posted by Groundskeeper Willie

@ thebesig: Don't take the garbage in this thread seriously. Here's the thing. Many DSSers are damaged from being in an abusive relationship with DMS for years. To be honest, I've only met a few DSSers, like imnotaslave, who seem mentally stable.

Point being, they have years of stored up pain. They can't take it out on DMS, so they take it out on "n00bs" and "zombies," as they call them.

But here's the other thing. Most DSSers are up shit creek right now. They have no other clients, gigs or opportunities outside DMS. Few of them are educated or have work experience. Some of them, like Truthagainst, have even talked about robbing people for money. She PMed me the other day and told me she felt like she "could kill a bitch."

Point being, they're desperate. If you show them a way forward--a way to move on and take out their pain on their real enemy--they will drop their defenses and greet you like the messiah.
I'm a little disappointed you haven't returned yet. But you seem like a stand up guy, and it's Sunday, so maybe you're at church. I can't wait for you to get home!

Sincerely,
Willie[/quote]

His statements were consistent with what I observed when I originally lurked DSS. That's one reason I wanted to give them my game plan. Their replies to my thread solidified my suspicion, what "Groundskeeper Willie" summarized above.

Demand Media Studios is a "jackpot" deal for many freelance writers just getting started.

You write articles for their websites, eHow, Essortment, COD, SoYouWanna.com, etc. In return for your efforts, you received $15.00 or more per article. Anybody that could stay with the computer, who doesn't mind researching, could earn money all day.

If you play it right, you could pay your monthly living expenses pumping articles out for Demand Media. Once you get paid for your articles, you could tell people that you get paid for your writing. Demand Studios is easy money, but it could also trap the writer's career development.

A freelance writer should be looking for more clients. They should also be looking to do writing assignments in different writing arenas. Content farms are a good start, but they shouldn't be the sole source of income, or the sole writing that's done.

But, why waste time looking for new clients when you could use that time writing $15.00 articles?

The Demand Studios Sucks posters that debated with me came across as "give me my handout" types. They put the effort to their articles, and they get paid. Do enough articles a day, and you could defray your living expenses, plus put money aside... all from working from home.

The majority of them only had Demand Studios as their client.

The majority of these writers also didn't have that much to be proud of accomplishment wise. Demand Media gave them "a purpose" in life. It gave them a feeling of being "freelance writers." It gave them a source of income. It helped them ignore their low self esteem.

When DMS announced that it'd cut down the article workload, many freelance writers were up in arms. A couple of the posters that debated with me posted responses to that article.

Below is a comment that "BurnCEs" made under Business Insider.com's "Demand Media is Cutting Back on Its Massive Volume of Writing."

[quote]BurnCEs, October 7, 2011 said:

"We will also be putting additional focus on helping you grow within your fields."

Because that's where many of you will be living by the end of the month.[/quote]

Why should anybody be living in the fields? Because they can't get money from Demand Media Studios? This wouldn't be a problem if these writers had other clients to write for. It's like what John Wayne said:

"Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid." --John Wayne

Now that they're losing their main, or sole, bread and butter, most are content with just complaining. Some tried to bill themselves as busy writing for Demand Studios... yet they were posting on Demand Studios Sucks with impunity.

Find a Demand Media related post, and you'll see many writers venting their frustration.

As freelance writers, they should consider these kinds of activities as "waste." Time they're spending on Demand Studios Sucks or other blogging websites, is time they're not devoting to their writing career.

A once in a while "helping hand" post is OK. Living in a message board, constantly posting there day in and day out, over the year, is a different story.

Back on my thread, I told them that if they're not writing for a client, they should be writing for their writing portfolio. That fell on deaf ears.

My plan called on them to constructively harness their "anger." They could "get back" while building their writing portfolios. If they weren't hell bent on being suspicious, and being on the attack, they'd realize that I was giving them a chance to move forward.

My banning covered two problems for DSS.

1. Demand Studios Sucks' administrators failed to provide leadership for the disgruntled DSS community. Demand Sucks' blog is focused on writing articles that aren't flattering to Demand Media. This attitude spills over into their message boards. Writers there are simply content with slamming Demand Studios.

Anger and resentment toward DMS is the fuel that drives the DSS community. This leads to the second problem...

2. There's no real push towards a post-Demand Studios world.

I offered both, leadership and purpose. The community rejected both, partly because they couldn't get beyond their hatred and frustration over Demand Studios.

This isn't healthy.

If Demand Media Studios becomes a non issue in the future, what happens to Demand Studios Sucks Forums? There'd be nothing to complain about. The complaints will continue for a few weeks... or months. But complaining about an organization that becomes irrelevant would only take the site so far.

Without a post-Demand Media world plan, Demand Studios Sucks will itself become irrelevant. Sadly, the careers of many beginning freelance writers would've ended long before this happens.