You may have understood the job to be writing and, loosely defined, it was. However, what Demand wanted more was the content — the keywords and the bulk of articles. Even if you and writers like you gave them terrific content, they really didn't care about that. They cared about volume.

Joni, you yourself were writing, as were many writers just like you trying to give them quality in a quantity-based world. There's another way, as you're finding out. It's not easy by any means, but it's worth it. I'm glad you gave it your all. I'm sorry they didn't. It's a learning experience, right? Not every job will be one we care to repeat or debate. Lord knows I've had my share of low-paying nightmare jobs. The idea is to use that bad experience as incentive to move ahead.

I was "really writing". My subject was health specifically, mental disorders as I was a counselor for the mentally disabled. I was paid $35.00 per 400-500 words with 4 scientific journal type references required. I did not like the low pay and the "editors" were horrible. It depended on their mood for the day whether you had to do a rewrite or not. However, I put as much work into the articles as I did my papers I wrote while getting my master's degree.

Demand was my first pay to write. It wasn't much pay but I did work hard on my articles and felt like I did a good job. So much so that I had to quit Demand because the editors were not on the same page with each other.

I was excited to get paid for writing. I never cared for getting my name out there and when I am well enough to start working again will probably use a pen name. I would rather not be known.

I never read any articles on Demand except for the ones related to my subjects. I do not like content mills but when I first found them when I was just beginning to write I gave it my all. I thought I was writing.

I think it was in the Weekend Update section of SNL where a guest commentator was introduced as an "unpaid" contributor to HuffPo. Loved it. Doonesbury has also been hammering away about HuffPo's unpaid writers for a couple years.

Lori, when you mentioned Twitter updates, it reminded me of a conversation I had with another writer. I'll occasionally note on LinkedIn that my schedule will be opening as soon as my current projects are completed. My friend uses updates to note everything she's currently working on – sometimes it's five or six things. To me, that says, "I'm too busy to take on new assignments," but she says it lets potential clients know she's in demand. I'm curious which side others here fall on with that argument.

I tried commenting on the Variety article earlier this morning, but for some reason it kept bouncing me out of their system.

I can't understand why it's taken larger media outlets so long to see what freelancers (and bloggers in related areas) have been saying for years. It was a lousy business model. They had too many eggs in the Google basket. And it wasn't going to last. This shouldn't be news. They were hardly the first content mill to learn this lesson the hard way.