Please tell me what you think of this article

Recently I hired a well know article writing service here on DP to write some articles for me. I will not mention who it was either here or by PM so please dont ask, It is not my purpose to cause then trouble with this post.

Personally I think the article is crap and it just rambles on almost nonsensically plus the writer did NOT follow my simple instructions. I want to know what others think of this article.

I ordered 5 articles. I rewrote one of them enough to where I could use parts of it (I threw out several paragraphs) I gave three of them away and this one is the 5th one.

Here are the original instructions I gave for this article:

Write about ancient coins such as from the Roman Empire, Greece, Middle East and other areas. What are some popularly collected coins from this time period?

The article (Red italics are copyscape duplication - there were other shorter phrases that were duplicated and several that were changed by only a few words):

Collecting Ancient Coins

Collecting ancient coins can be an intimidating hobby for some people, but it is a very noble activity being done by countless historians and interested men and women from all over the world. These ancient coins, souvenirs from the early civilizations, can open up a gateway to a past which many have tried to envision through textbooks, documentaries, and the like. Those who have spent most of their lives collecting ancient coins, for the most part, started out by collecting the present modern day coins. They are able to focus on collecting ancient coins for their more compelling nature and background.

As I have mentioned before, people collect ancient coins because it serves as a relic of the past which dates even to the years before Christ. An early U.S. coin, for example, may have gone through the times of Washington, Jefferson, Hancock, or other founding fathers, but an ancient brass coin may have been touched by Thales, Pythagoras, Democritus, Hippocrates, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, or others whose thinking formed the very basis of Western civilization. Some of the ancient coins also take its roots from Asian civilizations, making the discovery of history even wider in its scale. The age of any object makes a difference in terms of its value, which is why many have been interested in collecting ancient coins from around the world.

Not only do you have the history of the civilization but you also hold the beauty of the creativity in your hands. Greek coins are known to be one of the most attractive, being patterned and designed similarly by coins from other countries like the United States. If you are very particular of the detail of ancient coins, you will notice as you are collecting ancient coins that these have roots going back to the Greek designs of their coins. With their inspiration on the temples and gods of their Greek culture, we see so many similarities in coins pertaining to spiritual and cultural tradition in the present sides of modern coins.

Despite their vast history and beauty, collecting ancient coins will give back less than what you would expect of an antique. Modern day coins actually cost a lot more than ancient coins, with a huge range of pricing from very high to very low. But putting aside the numerical value, collecting ancient coins drives you to become a numismatist, wherein you study and learn all about coins and their values. You learn to distinguish between authentic coins and fake coins, which are actually circulating even in the present time in several countries as counterfeits to interest collectors into buying them. But you can also tell the difference by gathering materials, studying and learning the process of the coin’s history, and even surfing the Internet for sources outside of your country. By doing so you do more than just collecting ancient coins as a hobby or a lifetime profession by helping in preventing people to create fakes to distract and take advantage of others. You not only preserve history, but also appreciate it as well.

 

You'll always get countless redundant, bloated sentences with non-pros.

LOL. The writer has only written four sentences, but felt the need to use this line.

Another thing you always see with most writers around this level is a lack of specifics. There's enough generality in some of these articles to sink the Titanic.

I once ordered some articles about hotels in various areas. Not one article had one hotel mentioned by name. Got to love it.

If I were you (looks like you're in the US), I'd work with US writers only. If they copy someone, you have an easy legal remedy.

Obviously this writer knows nothing about the word "numismatist" and was too lazy to look it up for you. A numismatist is someone who collects coins on any level and for any reason. You can see the humor in that sentence, I hope.

The whole last section is very, very poor.

But, expect lots of what I like to call "No Shit Sherlock" writing. This is bloated writing filled with sentences that don't help the story and state the obvious.

That's why you should order just 1-2 articles. If it's crap, move on.

 

As the heart of the matter, I dare say that "collecting ancient coins" was NOT supposed to be the topic itself

 

Did you asks them to use the keyword "collecting ancient coins"? Looks like the writer considers himself to be a SEO specialist and hence has stuffed the article with this keyword collecting ancient coins.

And as Jeewant pointed, the article was about various types of coins and not exactly collecting ancient coins. He messed it up completely.

Also did you notice the repetitive use of comma in this article? After every group (I say group as there isn't any meaningful sentence in your article) of words the writer has used comma may be to shorten the lengthy sentences.

Is this really true?

Personally I don't like the usage of 'putting' in any sentence. Why not use 'keeping' instead of putting?

 

Something on DP always gives me a good laugh in the morning - today, this was it.

 

What did you expect for $3/article?

These people are churning out articles like a Nike sweat shop. They don't have time actually look up coins that were collected during the Roman Empire. They only have time to type. So, if the article you want isn't in the top 10-20 Google search results, you can forget it.

Not only that, the article has obviously been stolen from another source and simply rewritten (because of the Copyscape issues). If you post it and the original author finds it, you'll be accountable. That's not what you want.

If you want something that's going to require some actual research - like coins collected from the Roman Empire - you've got to pony up a little more cash and do more due diligence on your writer. Ask for links to bylined samples.

 

Hmm, I never mentioned the cost of the articles, but you are correct

The only reason I ordered articles from this service was because their thread was full of people saying that they had received excellent qualtiy articles etc etc. I am now assuming that either the OP has their 'friends' posting reviews or the reviews were posted by people who dont understand English very well.

I only posted one of the articles here, but I can tell you that all of them were equally as bad.

Thamks for your responses everybody have some green

 

Both are quite common unfortunately. Some people set up dupes to post their own reviews (we're usually good at catching those), some have their friends or other people in their company do it, but I think the language issue is the bigger problem. A lot of buyers of these lower-priced writing services aren't native English speakers, so they hire people claiming to have "perfect English" or something similar. These "writers" stay in business because their buyers don't honestly know the difference between perfect English and writing that's obviously not from a native English speaker (or ones from the US, UK, etc. who simply don't care). When looking at reviews, I don't give them any weight unless they come as a referral from someone I know and trust. I've found that to be a good policy with other services, and I imagine it's as true with writers.

Then again, you have to keep in mind that some buyers here (probably a lot) really don't care about the quality - they want cheap, quick content to throw on a domain to pull in some ad revenue. It's not about readers for them, and they couldn't care less about the readability or even specific subject matter - just another case to look as carefully at the reviewers as the person being reviewed.

 

Pricing comes linear with quality,I guess. But don't generalize non-native English writers in one box

Check out my blog to see my English level (pardon if it sounds like an ad)

 

I know of several writer who charge 1 cent per word and they do EXCELLENT work.

The member who provided these articles makes the following claims: 101% STRICTLY Unique Articles, 99.9% Correct Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation, if articles are late, you'll get free articles!

My articles took more than double the promised turn around time - I was not given or offered a free article (although I wouldnt even want any more from them anyway), and obviously the articles were not "101% unique"

 

Well, if it is too good to be true, it probably is .

But I do feel sorry for your problem. Those kind of people brought bad name to freelancers' industry.

 

Unlike your article writer, I know how to research.

So did you really want the articles? Or were you just trying to expose the lies? Or both?

 

I really did want the articles. I didnt expect them to be perfect at that price, but with all the positive feedback the service had gotten I did expect to get some usable articles for my websites. I have actually already hired someone else to do those same articles for me. I gave the job to a person with a proven track record who has written quite a bit of stuff for me. Sometimes I need content and my regular writers are too busy - that was why I tried this particular service out.

 

Yes and there are people who buy pictures in frames from Wal-mart for $19.92 (rolling back prices) and think this is "art."

My point is this: those people don't know what good writing actually is. Therefore, their opinion is worthless.

If Billy Joe Bob, who is 32 and dropped out of school after the 6th grade, told me that [insert typer/writer here] had outstanding writing, I'd seek a second opinion.

DP has some great people, but it also has tons of people who make no money (or little), who don't know what they're talking about, who like to talk with direct experience and who are just trying to get started in business.

In other words, take reviews with a grain of salt. Everything should be qualified.

 

Most of the "services" hire a bunch of writers who only have to write a paragraph or two as their qualification. I say this because I have worked for a number of services and that was the process in each case. Most of the services send the work on to the client as is instead of having an in-house editor to look things over, as well.

I'm curious about one thing which you didn't mention in your post. Did you complain and if so, what was the response?

 

Yes, I did complain and the response was very bad. I was basically yelled at and accused of being the one who was at fault. I was even told something along the lines that if I wanted perfection I would have to pay much more.

 

Well, if nothing else, I hope you left a review to that effect (including their response to your complain) in their sales thread here so others aren't suckered by the positive reviews (or at least if they are, it's their own dumb fault).

 

As much as some people will slate $0.01 per word writers, there are some writers out there who produce some really good articles for this price, but the problem is finding them. A lot of the "writers" who aren't from an English speaking country will not be able to write fluent English, not only because it isn't their natural language, but because they wont have a grasp on some of the complicated grammar etc that is used in this language.

I was always told that English was the hardest language to learn, and if this is anywhere near true then you should know that if you want well written articles then you should hire native English speakers (or people who have lived in an English speaking country for a reasonable length of time).

 

Yes, I certainly did do that, in fact my entire complaint/review was posted in their thread. I also left a negative iTrader (nor was I the only one who did). Of course I expect to get a neg in return but that doesnt bother me.

According to their promo their writers "A team of professionals from different industries...... Packed with excellent communication arsenal skills"

I would not make any statement saying anything negative about a writer because of their rates. I have seen quite a few writers who did excellent work for 1c per word or so and many that do acceptable work for those rates. I have often paid more than what they asked because they did such good work.

I have had writers from India who did great work as well as those who didnt seem to grasp the English language. I have also gotten work done by Americans that was no good. While I do believe you have a better chance of getting good writers who are based in the US, Canada, UK or similar countries, but you cannot always go by that.

Recently I ordered an article done by a DP member and it was really terrible. I didnt even want to try to rewrite it, it was that bad. I paid him and just didnt send any more work his way. That is what I usually do. In this case I feel that I was treated very rudely when I posted my review of the service I received. I discovered that feedback and reviews are greatly appreciate as long as they are good.

The provider of my articles did papologize for them being late and later they offered to correct the grammatical problems, but I was not offered a free article as promised for the work being very late and there was no recognition that the articles I got werent even written according to my simple instructions. If they had tried to at least do that I may have been able to edit and rework them to make them usable.

To be perfectly honest if they had treated me with more respect and actually cared about my business and tried to make things right I would have given them a good recommendation. One thing that really got me was that they posted saying there was only 20 words copied but the copyscape test shows 44 words copied. Not only that but the words that were copied didnt even need to be in the article in the first place as they had nothing to do with what I actually asked for.

I did not want to mention who did these articles because then I would be accused of doing nothing here except to try to ruin someones business or reputation when that was not my intent at all. I was told that the article was well written etc etc and so I wanted to get some real opinions to back up my view on it.

 

If you can't have direct contact with the "expert" on their team to qualify him or her, hire someone else.