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| No | 20% | 178 votes | Total: 875 votes | |
| Yes | 80% | 697 votes |
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Add to FavoritesSamuel Johnson of dictionary fame once remarked that "nobody but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." While generally good advice, there are exceptions to the rule - the exceptions being determined by the free market.
In a very real sense, the world wide web is one of the freest of free markets. Entry to the marketplace is phenomenally easy, willing buyers can meet willing sellers for virtually any product at almost any price, while time and space are virtually no constraint.
Thus, instituting a universal requirement that all web sites must pay writers for their articles sounds like a good idea, but it would severely hamper the functioning of the free market. It is always a short hop from "everyone should be paid for working" (and, yes, writing is work), to "everyone must be paid X amount, regardless." Is that, however, just? Several exceptions immediately come to mind:
1. An article might not be worth cash money. Frankly, for all the valuable information and actual artistry that one can find on the internet, there is also a lot of garbage.
2. When people say "payment," they almost inevitably mean in the form of money. There are, however, other reasons a writer might publish: the thrill of seeing one's name in print, an important message to convey, testing the waters to see if people like your writing, and so on. That sort of "payment" can frequently be more valuable than the cash presumably missed out on.
3. The free market implies willingness on the part of both the buyer and the seller. If the buyer is forced to tender payment in a specific form or amount, then his or her freedom has been infringed upon. Sometimes this is necessary for a well-run social order (hence the necessity of "legal tender"), but to mandate payment for something that a buyer might believe is not worth that price or form of payment is to institute a controlled marketplace, the most common form of which is socialism.
In short, the time for all web sites to pay writers for their articles will be determined by the market itself. If web sites are unable to obtain necessary articles without paying for them (whether because writers spontaneously decided not to supply them gratis or got organized, exercising their right of free association), then the time is obviously right. If, however, web sites can get all they want for free, then clearly the time is not right.
Learn more about this author, Michael Greaney.
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Yes
IS IT TIME FOR ALL WEBSITES TO PAY WRITERS FOR THEIR ARTICLES?
I decided yes on this, if I have to give a black and white answer with no grey in the middle, but this does over simply this debate. Some websites do not make any profit and have trouble being able to stay on-line because they are there for charitable or information only type purposes and they cannot afford to pay writers and they should not be asked to if they make no profit.
But if we are looking at the majority of websites, which sell advertising space, even chat rooms, which claim to be free of charge, make their money by selling advertising space, then anyone who writes for them should be paid something which is congruous with the amount of profit that site makes.
There are sites that charge YOU to write for them, and these sites do earn an income by selling advertising space too, which I believe is cheek, but you have the choice of whether you agree or not. I would imagine that you would have to be totally desperate to see your words in print to agree and then you are just a vanity writer. These sites rely on the fact that some people are so desperate to see their words in print that they can charge you for the privilege, but if you do not like it, then simply refuse and move on to other sites.
The trouble with writing articles for sites is that there are so many people who like to believe that they are "writers", even if their grammar and spelling are awful, that the market is flooded with so-called writers. Some of them like the idea of being a writer because it makes them feel talented and special, others are thinking of how practical it can be for them to work from home, if they are stuck at home looking after the children or they do not want to go to work or do a full-time job. Hence, some sites pay peanuts for articles and you can see that the quality of the articles is terrible. Other writers are writing not so much because they want a job or money but because they believe that what they say is important and they must share this with others.
From the business point of view, it is wise to pay writers for their articles, otherwise, if you are only offering people a chance to write for free you will never attract people whose writing is worth reading. It does mean you are spending out some money, but that is better than having crappy articles appearing on your sites. There is an old saying... "if you pay peanuts you get monkeys" and this is true in all professions. Nobody bright and capable makes do with second best if they can have first best. From the moral point of view you should pay people to write for your sites if you are making money from them, if you are earning from their articles, so should they.
Helium.com have recognised that they should pay writers of quality and now pay them according to their star rating when they fill an empty slot and then continue to pay a residual income. Helium has an excellent website and every subject is covered.
Another site you can get paid to write for, even if you do not live in the US, is TRIOND. One of the good things about Triond is that you pick your subject with no limitations about having to search through lots of titles before you find the right one, which is a time consuming process, and when you are self-employed time is money. You also not have to ask their permission to do a title or compete with others using the same title. They then position your article on a web page that is read by a lot of people who are interested in the subject you wrote about, rather than placing it on a website full of thousands of articles on different subjects. But Triond does not pay writers anything for writing the article upfront.
If you are a professional and wish to spread the word about your work or your website, you can put all of this in your articles, which is a huge bonus to professionals. Many professionals can get quite frustrated if they feel they are being lumped in with amateurs writing about the same subject.
Some websites offer very mediocre rates of pay such as 25 cents for an article, with no residual income to follow, and they still get people willing to write articles for them, so all the time people are willing to work free or cheap these websites will not have to pay more.
Learn more about this author, Carmel Brulez.
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