Well, it's not true that all the writers here have necessarily got poor knowledge of English. It's quite true that English may not be their first language, but that doesn't mean all the DP writers are pathetic!!!
And what about guys like this -> http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2618779 ?? Is anyone answerable for the sad payments being handed out on DP. When I joined DP (back in 2009), it was a breeze to find clients who were willing to pay $5 per article or more. With a little extra effort, you could easily land better gigs, many of them long term ones. I have learned this the hard way - it's time to move on from DP (Shawn is also planning removal of iTrader system http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1942652&goto=newpost , so that should also help in purging out old members like me).
Webbuddy, you need to take a chillpill. What has been happening recently is a 'race to the bottom' as spam sites became dominant on Google, and it became unprofitable to use anything but the cheapest spun crap to get traffic. That has now changed - last year Google's tweaks dumped the vast majority of spam sites down into the lower reaches of the index, so it won't be long now before clients start to realise that paying $1 is basically throwing $1 away. And at that point, rates go back up. It's all about public awareness. While everyone was convinced duplicate content worked, no one wanted to commission ANY content. That problem went away... Thenit was spun content - that problem is starting to die off... next, $1 articles...
Digitalpoint is like a dirty sock with a wrapped twinkie inside lol. There are some excellent writers on here that can write for just $0.01/word but when you look at the site from the outside you just see the 'I have sent you the PM' type posts.
The fact is good writers don't use DP. There are many content companies and sites that rate writers not at the time of transaction like here, but only after the article has been written and read. Good writers earn good money this way, where the rubbish is weeded out and you dont pay unttil you have seen the finished product. if you need good content, this is not the place.
Lol you can't be serious. You really think you can show finished articles before payment without the risk of theft? Even Constant-Content.com has 'previews', if they gave out the full articles they would be copied for free in seconds. And about the quality on here, yes there are some poor writers since it is a free global forum. But there are a lot of big players here such as Shoe Money, Nikolaax, Justin Dupre in blogging/article writing and more that are still active. Quality writing sites like constant-content and textbroker take a commission for each transaction, so there is still a lot of incentive to use free forums like DP.
Good writing is a well-developed skill. And it takes practice. I concur entirely with what you're saying. But the problem is more widespread than you can imagine. Employers regularly complain that employees with MBAs can't write very well. And I believe it! I've even read published material written by people who claim to write well, but who don't. It seems to me that this is one area where you definitely get what you pay for.
Sometimes you have to pick through a lot of debris and junk to find a... GEM. Keep looking for quality writers. They are worth your time and effort. You CAN find QUALITY people at bargain basement prices here.
You raise an excellent point. Google's PANDA update is one giant leap towards rewarding sites with quality content aimed at engaging flesh and blood human readers. Spun garbage is on the way out. Bad writing will probably be penalized once Google factors in BOUNCE RATE.
You are not far wrong. I have been writing content for nearly 4 years and I have always used DP to get clients. The problem is that the writers who produce low quality work tend to charge well under $1 per 100 words. I have seen people looking for $0.40 per 100 words at times. What kind of quality do you expect for that? The reason they keep coming back is that people pay them this amount for their work. In all honestly, $1 per 100 words is ridiculously low as well for good quality and well researched work however as long as people keep paying the REALLY low rates then the writers will keep producing shoddy work. I get the argument that they live in countries where the dollar goes a long way; I am working in Vietnam at the minute (I'm from the UK) and making $100 a week from writing can be a lot to someone who is used to the local wages here. No doubt you might come across someone now and again who charges a low rate and produces brilliant work however 99% of the time you essentially get what you pay for. It can be difficult to get through the rubbish to find a good writer but they do exist on DP.
Good writing is worthless when writers lurk around a marketplace where potential employers pay peanuts to get sort of Pulitzer-awarded content. Lesson to learn, if you pay peanuts you get monkeys whether native English speakers or not.
There is a simple reason behind you getting crappy content from Indian writers and contrary to your belief the reason is not that Indian writers can't write good quality content. It is that you are pinching pennies and still trying to get hold of good quality content. Stop squeezing the writers and you would surely get nicely written articles.
No I am not, for some articles (<500 words) I have paid over $90, it all depends on what I use them for. I never said that I believed that no Indian writer could write good content, that's your words. I think the reason is because there are so many Indian people trying to make money online that the ones with less experience/education overwhelm the good quality writers. I have recieved bad articles from people all over the world when paying a decent amount of money for them, but according to my experience, most bad articles come from India. It might not be the case for everyone, but at least it is for me.