One of the websites that has been a huge disappointment as of late is Freelancer.com. A couple years ago it was wonderful! I gained a decent reputation and only encountered one or two "bad eggs" as a freelance writer.
Initially, the pay was very low, which I expected, but I made my way up fairly quickly to the $5 per 500 word article gigs. Granted, that's not rolling in the dough, but it was paying the bills as I pursued actual contracts and increased my online reputation.
Returning back to Freelancer this winter, I found it has essentially been taken over by employers expecting what appears to me to be dismal work for slave labor costs. This is at least the case for writing gigs; technology-based gigs may be quite the opposite, but I didn't go that career route. (For that matter I did aim for writing as a career either, but that's a wholly different matter.)
The other writing opportunities I saw that paid slightly better were primarily those that I would not pursue on a moral basis- either those for a wealthy, lazy college student or in regards to *ahem* other subjects.
As to who may be to blame for this shift as to livable rates, I'm not sure. My hunch is that the website simply became too popular; saturated with individuals looking for (and offering) the most basic of SEO skills and English as a second language, living in countries where the American dollar has a much higher value. The website is actually set up quite well and I never had a technical problem with it all the time I spent on it. But as of today, I simply can't spend hours searching for those few decent writing opportunities that I may or may not even be awarded after submitting an application.
Granted, there are still some diamonds in the rough on freelancer.com. But unless you've already built up an impressive writing profile, steer clear for now. There are plenty of other freelance writing websites out there to explore- and I'll let you know what I think of them as I go along!
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