Is Scribophile a scam or a legit company?

asked by Barbara L. on 6/24/19

7 Answers
Thumbnail of user nancyh916

I also want to counter the two who talk about banning etc. I'm a long time member. I've never seen anyone banned except in a couple of pretty egregious situations. I've seen people go off in a huff, of course. You cannot discuss politics or religion (unless it is related to a writing question) in the main forums and the forums are moderated so the trolls are kept to a minimum. As someone else pointed out, you should not lose any of your writing because of Scribophile. You write in your word processor on your own device and copy and paste it into Scrib for reviews. You can edit, but it is advisable to focus writing in your own software - it is not a word processing site, it is a critique site. Youi can even copy your post with its crits to your own device with one click. You completely own your writing. There are lots of non-PG even non-PG13 writers on Scribophile, even groups dedicated to those genres, including horror.
I have never seen the site owner call anyone a jerk in the forums. He rarely posts in there and it is always a site administrative announcement.
Almost all of the complaints I've seen here indicate the person did not understand how the site works and why, though you can get plenty of help. It, of course, doesn't please everyone but that's to be expected. You can sign up for a free account without time restrictions, just some services are curtailed or unavailable.

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Thumbnail of user viviennes9

I don't understand these last two about keeping backups. You don't write on the site, but copy and paste your work, so you still have it on your pc. As to banning. If you think there is something in your work that might offend, you can label it as ADULT. There are rules about being nice and polite, so no trolling, and everyone has to thank their Critiquers.
If there are offensive messages posted, then you will get banned. There is also a button for 'bad critique'.
This does not sound like 'arbitrarily banning'.

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Thumbnail of user laurar904

It's totally legit and awesome too! I think it's free to sign up anyway!

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Thumbnail of user rajitk1

It's totally legit! It's a great site, sign up and see for yourself!

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Thumbnail of user jamiea119

It is a legit website! Sign up and see for yourself!

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Thumbnail of user janetk296

They will delete your work even if your paying for an account if someone complains that what you wrote "offended them" keep back ups. You don't "own" the work on there, they can terminate you at any time and have zero tolerance. So even if your paying to use the service your account can be banned and YOUR own work can not be retrieved.

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Thumbnail of user katherinel104

It depends on how you look at it. If you want to join a site where the owner can arbitrarily ban you and you don't get your money back, it's a scam. But he's covered himself legally, so you have no recourse. Buyer beware. If I were a writer, I would look to join another writing community, not Scrib.

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