CrowdSource

They pay embarrassing rates (about. 02/word and down - almost three times less than I make on Textbroker, for the sake of all things holy), they reject work for nonexistent spelling, grammar and punctuation errors (and boy, I mean literally nonexistent), as well as nonexistent APA style guideline violations. I write bestselling novels, run a small niche press, and I have a day job as a managing editor at a natural science journal that subscribes strictly to the AP guidelines. The editing is wildly inconsistent, unprofessional (snarky, foolish, and very holier than thou - with these attitudes, I guarantee these editors have not and do not work professionally in any other capacity), and often completely incorrect in regard to grammar, punctuation, AP style, and actual facts. I've had articles rejected for use of banned resources such as the American Medical Association, The US Department of Labor and Industry, the BBC, Associated Press, company websites (when completing assignments about said company), the New York Times, the Penal Code, and the New England Journal of Medicine. Apparently, the term "high traffic", when backed up by impartial internet traffic reports, is opinionated and not factual.

These people are fools. The sheer lack of professionalism is a glaring indicator that they have never written or edited in a professional capacity. They will either crush you, or encourage to write in ways that violate every standard of acceptable professional writing. And for your trouble, they will pay you. 02 per word.

Writers: If you must work at a content mill (and let's be honest, there isn't an easier way to earn an extra $200 between paydays) apply to Writers Domain, Scripted, or Textbroker. CrowdSource pays significantly less per word than any of these.

I fear that I'm preaching to the converted here, but I can only agree with just about everything that's been written. Like many others, I started off without any problems, then suddenly, it's "error, error, error". I committed the sin of forgetting that I was British and spelling something the British way. "Spelling mistake." Er, no, spelling difference. I was also foolish enough to use the BBC as a reference. Unacceptable, apparently. "Not a trusted resource." You what? I've also been knocked back for "poor English." Okay, how did I get a degree in English, then?

Well. I've been writing 100-word answers to questions for a couple of months now. The reviewer who said they pay $. 02 and less per word is wrong. The 100-word answers, for me, started at $2.50, which I know isn't a lot, but it's more than 2 cents per word. Since then, I've gotten two promotions and two small bumps in pay, plus several bonuses (for what IDK). For what it's worth, I do agree with previous posters about inconsistent editing, but that's to be expected when everyone is freelancing like we are. I'm sure there's a vast spectrum of quality represented in the editors as well as with us writers.
Maybe the tides will turn soon, but for now I'm happy with my 100% acceptance rate, the variety of questions from which to choose, and the flexibility of just hopping on the computer to earn a few bucks while I look for something more 'relevant.' I agree with the previous poster that it's easier to stomach the low pay if you look at this as more of a hobby that you happen to be getting paid for than an actual job.
Also, I have to add that my emails to them have always, always been promptly answered.

After completing two really hard qualifications, I have seen a blank job list for twenty days now. This website called OneSpace is useless.

Support staff is nonexistent, and when they do attempt to reply to inquiries, they fail to answer vital questions, or offer any insight as to why they mark up writing tasks.

I received 100% on the handful of tasks I completed, yet, their editing is so arbitrary and incoherent. One task comes back with no editing; the next is full of subjective/opinionated edits. I sent screenshots to support, citing very specific edits (7 in total), asking explicitly where the "rule" was that the edit was in "violation" of, just so that I could refer to their instructions further and learn from the suggestions. NOPE. They could not come clean with the reasons for the edits, so there was no way for me to "learn" what they did, or did not, want in the writings.

I believe this company is being run in someone's dark garage by a bunch of wannabe high school creative writing students who do not know what they are doing, let alone know how to manage a large panel of colleagues and workers and satisfy support requirements for a professional workplace.

I actually thought the company was decent to write for, but soon realized they are very disorganized. They have monumental guidelines to remember and even if you stick to them, editors will still mark your work down. There is absolutely no consistency and the "approved resource list" changes on a daily basis. One day the source is acceptable and then the next its not. There is no revise option either and no communication between editor and writer which is just ridiculous. I figured I might as well write for free. The pay might seem ok at first, but after all the headache and mess, it's really is not worth all the aggravation!

All you fellow wordsmiths out there, you all need to know that Crowdsource is a horrible company to work for. Writer beware.

They get you to write a whole load of articles and then fail you on the majority of them. They just give you enough so they appear legit. These guys are scamming scum. Do not waste your time.

After I'd learned a monumental amount of instructions for the Q and A section, I was given two successive promotions with a higher pay grade and my success score was 90+%. I then had a spate of rejections stating awkward sentence structure. I tried to learn from my "mistakes" but was suddenly banned due to my writing being too similar to source material. Editing was very inconsistent and confusing. I spent a lot of time trying to learn their rules. Don't bother wasting your time. This seems to be the pattern at CrowdSource/OneSpace. Why this is so I can't say. Could be they have close to 60,000 freelancers signed up and can afford to be despotic. Read similar complaints on their moderated forums.

Everything previously said is true. Notice there is not one good review. They do not deserve a good review. The editors are more than a joke. I have been writing all my life, hold a degree in Journalism and have countless articles in reputable national magazines. (So why am I writing here? I love writing. It's that simple. It's a hobby and a passion).

The editors are inconsistent and most definitely opinionated. Translation is, they are not professional.

I have noticed an interesting trend. They always try to find something you've done wrong, which I guess is the job of an editor. However, while you turn in one paper with a serial comma and it is corrected, it is interesting to note that when you do the next paper and do not include the serial comma, it is also corrected. Go figure. (Actually, I think I did that in reverse... did not include the serial comma and when corrected, included it. Either way, it is an ongoing battle with the editors and seems to simply depend on who is editing).

In any case, when there is nothing else they can find fault with (no spelling, grammar or punctuation errors), they simply rewrite your words. They do not rewrite things that NEED to be rewritten, things that sound better once they have rewritten them. They simply rewrite words, which is not professional, but personal opinion. In most cases, I don't think it helps the flow. For me, that is just lame.

Example:

Original Sentence:
"The editing process can involve correction, condensing, organization, and many other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate and complete work."

Corrected sentence by CrowdSource:
"Correcting, condensing, organizing, and otherwise modifying copy can all be part of an editing process with the purpose of producing consistent work."

Really?

I have also read edited work that they have sent back and seen that in their editing, they have mistakes. How unprofessional is that? Which... don't get me wrong, anyone can make a mistake. But what doesn't make sense is that there is no way you can give feedback on what they have done. THAT is a huge mistake. Now, you read corrected work with mistakes and it will be published. At least it won't have your name on it!

I don't waste much time worrying about any of it since the site is a joke. I simply write when I feel like it, earn a little extra side money (VERY little) and laugh every time I see the deposits in my account.

If you don't take it too seriously, it may be the right thing for you. If you care about your work and get offended easily, or if you expect professionalism, look elsewhere.

If for nothing else, it's a great place for a good laugh, at their expense.

At first I thought this would be a wonderful way to earn extra money. I am not so sure anymore. Most of my work has been rejected or rewritten. I am a person with a BA in Print Journalism. I have been writing most of my life. One work was rejected due to spelling errors. I re-read the work and found none. Now I have been demoted to the lowest paying assignments. I have never experienced anything like this in my life. I am looking elsewhere for writing work online. I think there should be two-way communication between editors and writers. I also wonder if the editors simply reject most of the work so they earn additional dollars for rewrites.

This company isn't even worthy of one star - my preference would be to give it NEGATIVE five stars!

I initially felt that this company was a fantastic opportunity, but the more I learn, the more disappointed I am. Good freelance writers are being driven away from the site by inconsistent "editors" who lack insight and seem to have no interest in being helpful as well as arbitrary and ever-changing guidelines. Of the writers I spoke to, many have stopped writing for CS in spite of really needing the work. Those who continue to write for the site do it only when absolutely necessary and most of the writers I talked to regularly warn others about the poor environment, rude staff and ridiculous expectations.

My own personal experience writing for CS mirrors what I have heard from others. I write for other sites that require solid, quality work and do so successfully. The editing of my work on CS is completely random and not a result of errors, but the preference of the editor. In order to keep up with the changing "rules" writers must constantly check for updates.

The most infuriating part of writing for this company is that they "fail" my work, send me all kinds of nonsense notes but still USE my piece. If I'm such a terrible writer, why do they continue to accept my pieces? In reality, when a writer works up to a high level in their tiered system - where they can make more money - editors actively look for ways to demote them. I hear this time and time again from other writers and I've experienced it myself.

CrowdSource is a joke. It's a terrible company that takes advantage of good, freelance writers... but, luckily, not for very long. I have stopped writing for them and know many others who have done the same. Those who continue to write for CS do so only because they desperately need the work. When other work is plentiful, most writers I've talked to stay away from CS.

While you can make money writing for CS, I definitely recommend steering clear. The headaches and irritation just aren't worth it.

Man, I thought I was going crazy all these weeks, but reading other people's reviews, now I know that I'm not. I've been experiencing the same thing that others have been complaining about. When I first started doing the "Answer a Question" jobs, everything was accepted without any problem. I even had a few "nice job!" comments from the editors thrown my way. But then, all of a sudden, I finally hit that "wall", where it seemed as if I was getting at least one rejection for every batch I submitted.The feedback was ridiculous, too, just lots of hairsplitting and nitpicking, as if the editor was looking for any reason to reject my submission.

For example, there was one question asking about the best way to find a medical specialist. I wrote, "One way is to ask your doctor for a referral." The source I had linked to said exactly that, except added that it was recommended to ask for two referrals. The editor rejected my task whining, "You wrote that you needed *a* referral. That's not what your source said. It said that you need *two* referrals." No, dingbat. The source said to ask for *a* referral, but ask for two to be on the safe side.

Another thing that editors have been doing is rejecting your work when they've become too lazy to edit it. They'll just reject it with the generic, "Has poor writing/multiple infractions" robo feedback. How do I know this? Because it's always the longest 200-300 word answers that get this feedback.

Editors have also been rejecting tasks based on their assumptions about writers being "ESL." In case you don't know what I'm talking about, editors went to the CrowdSource forums complaining about how writers were "obviously ESL." (They have the magical ability to tell who's a blue-blooded American speaker and who is a Third Worlder who only just learned English a year ago). They then demanded the ability to flag jobs as being "ESL." Apparently, this "ESL" thing gained traction, because not too soon after, a writer went to the forums complaining that several of his tasks had been unfairly rejected, with the suspicion that they had been rejected by an editor who had deemed his work "ESL." CrowdSource agreed with him that the rejections were unfair and overturned them.

Editors also seemed to have lost scope of what their job entails. Some editors have begun leaving snarky feedback based on value judgments they have made about the pieces they are marking. Last I heard, a writer complained at the CS forums about a rude piece of feedback she had received on her piece. When called out on it in the forums, the editor who had left the commentary made the excuse that she was justified, because it was "obvious" to her that the writer had "run out of things to say."

At any rate, after about a month of smooth sailing, I saw my score--which had climbed up to an 84--suddenly drop down to 77 over one weekend. What I noticed, too, is that in spite of still having other tasks pass successfully, they had no impact on my score. Apparently, only the Expert answers affect your score and not the High Traffic ones. So you could submit hundreds of High Traffic answers successfully with flying colors but as soon as your Expert answer is rejected, your score plummets.

Needless to say, don't waste your time with CrowdSource. It's a shame, too, because if it weren't for the bad editors, you could make some decent income there. Not anymore.

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I agree, with the previous person, the editing staff at this site should be hired, schooled, or taught not to be so controlling over someone else work. The editors reject everything. If they don't like your writing style they rewrite your work, fail your paper, and then complain about your paper having too many errors. Why hire writers if you only reject or rewrite their words.

When I first started writing for Crowdsource, all of my work was accepted and I had a high rating. After a short time, I started receiving many rejections criticizing points that had previously been accepted. I would definitely agree with others that the editing is very inconsistent and that style rules accepted by one editor are criticized or even lead to rejections from another. Also, it does seem that resource guidelines change, overnight. Last week they accepted Wikipedia as a secondary source, this week I received many rejections based on it no longer being an acceptable source. You can make some money here, but I find it really interesting that my experience seems to follow a similar pattern to others - who are at first well rated and then receive many rejections. It does make me wonder if there is something going on about preventing writers from advancing there.

Crowdsource has gone through some radical changes in the past year. For awhile, I was making $500-600 a week there writing, but then the bottom fell out. They are very secretive about what is going on behind the scenes, and keep making big promises that never come to pass. They got a huge influx of money from an equity firm, and now they have bought CrowdCloud, but despite being promised work from that transaction, and a new platform independent of MTurk, none of that has come to pass. The editors are also the writers, and only have to pass a test that is easy to cheat on to get the job, so their quality of editing is sometimes erratic. There are SOME good editors. The writing guidelines are insane. Someone in the company is making rules that go against all better journalistic judgement, and when anyone else in the company tries to stand up for the workers, they are fired.

They also have smaller non-writing hits on MTurk, which do not pay enough for the work required, although some of them are o. K. once you get going on them and build up speed. Beware, because they have a tendency to reject entire batches of hits for ridiculous reasons.

All-in-all, not a bad company, but they need to change out the management, or stop offering writing jobs, because this bunch doesn't have a clue about writing.