Well, I finally did it! I realize ac is a "gift horse". You write articles and

Well pardon me for barging in but I have to agree with MommaJ on this one. If A.C. wants things done a certain way then they need to explain. I wasn't even sure that they even had a forum when I was there. Another thing that i didn't really care for is that the content producers weren't able to message each other back and forth the way that we can do here on my lot. i guess that is one of the reasons why I was beginning to get out with them. I might go back over there and try to review everything again but right now I'm going to get eat my dinner. Subway folk, ya'll can have just as much fun here writing as you want to but my stomach is telling me right now to go and get something to eat. Yeah baby, food is what I'm talking about.

I've been writing in the same niche for over a year and a half and I write what comes out for contests. I do like AC. I do read the forums. I want to know why payments keep changing in the same category. Every six months it seems they go down. I want to continue writing on AC. I am actually a big fan of theirs. I just think the way they are doing things should either be explained or if it's because they want writers to leave they should say that too. AC does a great job of explaining most of their problems in the forum. They just haven't hit on this topic yet. I have seen other's in the forum complain, but nothing definite.

Hope the food was good. You really need to get on the AC forum. You can pm anyone on ac without much effort as long as you are a member. It's better than mylot's messaging. If you need help let us know.

I put the article on his account awhile back. They obviously didn't know it was one that was rejected under my name. That's what made me write the letter. It was the exact same article and yet they accepted it and even paid him for it! I didn't think they were messing with people until that little experiment. I hope they take my letter to heart because I want to know why a lot of the people are complaining about the exact same thing. Why would they suspend me? No copyright infringement. They knew it was my husbands account because that was how it was able to be open. That's a long story but trust me, they are aware of every isp address that crosses their site. I just want to know why the offers keep going lower and lower without any explanation? Wouldn't you if it happened to you? Would you just accept it and think "oh, my writing must be getting worse."? I just wanted to know why, so if they suspend me, maybe I wasn't supposed to write. It shouldn't upset them that I asked a question that other people are just griping about. Although, several writers left. I think they are back now. One of the writers that left was barefoot. He even put on his homepage why he left. Instead of just leaving, shouldn't people ask questions?

I have always been in accounting so I agree that business fluctuate with the economy. As you said, they have to hold some back for the lean time. Questioning a company concerning payment when it fluctuates is just business sense. If a company changes their practices there must be a reason. I unfortunately, don't have the time to sit around and write either. I am lucky to have an hour a day where I write anymore. I'm not an artist and we would totally see things differently on a lot of aspects. I'm a full-time mom with an autistic son. So I spend most of my time on the phone with doctors and therapists, driving to school and appointments, and volunteering at the school once a week. I also eat lunch with my daughter once a week just so she knows she's special, too. I write as a release and to make money. I think of finances completely differently than you do. I won't assume anything when it comes to business or money that's why I ask questions. I'm sorry you think my experimentation makes me a fraud. I don't believe it does. Nor do I think Michy is a fraud because she experimented and then wrote her findings on different websites. I will say I wasn't trying to badmouth AC. I was just letting everyone know all their complaints about pay may be answered.

Well, I have been writing since high school and I have served as an editor before so no, I would not wonder why, I would just move on. But then if I had the time to stay home and write I probably would not be dealing with sites like AC because I would be busy with better paying opportunities. My time at present is divided between the day to day responsibilities of home, hearth and family, work, being an artist and a host of other things including continued renovation of my living space. The upfronts at AC are a joke to me. Even a $10 upfront is a joke to me, but I am not in a position to accept assignments and freelancing doesn't pay as well unless you can luck up on some of those opportunities that pay big big bucks. I am only interested in writing about my interests and I long ago tired of the drama and BS with small time local publications. I would have my own helium or AC if I could but at this point it is too much to manage and for now helium is more cost effective. Another reason i would not wonder is that I understand how business works and you can't pay employees or in this case independent contractors anymore than what your budget allows and since markets fluctuate you have to plan for the lean times. Any time you have to pay someone for a service it is a huge expense; the biggest expense there is in running a business even. I have complete autonomy as a helium writer and the passive income is great, limited only by my participation. I am not a share holder in helium or AC and it is not up to me to dictate their business practices. It is completely up to me to contribute to them or not and it does not cost me a dime. There are other, better ways to make money and I always have to option to self-publish. I get a kick out of seeing my earnings grow on helium especially for the craft articles. They are like BS writing that takes very little of my time. As an artist I spend money constant on supplies and wait to earn the money back. In comparison helium and AC are great because of the upfronts, especially AC. If I had time off and no other long list of tasks I needed to complete I would spend time getting AC to where I have helium at. As it stands I have to figure out how to get a festival vending application in by Monday's deadline without my computer working to be able to download, add images and email it back. From September to the end of December I will barely have time to turn around. If I were AC my response would be that the terms of service are clearly outlined, etc. The issue of them rejecting you and accepting article from your husband sounds like two editors with different ideas about quality which means AC has a quality control problem. The issue of you resubmitting under a different name is akin to fraud, however. There has been a great deal of controversy lately over writers working for major publications and not submitting their own original work. So that's my two cents. Now I need to go get some work done.

I don't think they are going to cut anyone. They just don't want to pay anyone anymore. If it's the economy so be it. If it's just because, then I want a reason. Every six months my pay has been cut in the past year. I just want to know why. I need every penny I can get too. That's why I will stay. I also love writing. It's a better site than most and I just keep hearing the complaints and now, I am wondering what is going on.

I think it would be interesting to see how they are with accepting articles from men vs. women. There appear to be a lot more female writers over on AC than men. Maybe they are more lenient with articles from men because they are trying to balance this out and build up their male database. Gosh, now I wish I would have used a gender-neutral name!

Hi Citychic! I evidently have not been getting my emails to let me know people have replied to my discussion. I was actually on my profile page trying to find something when I saw this. LOL I started a year ago and I loved it. It was so great. The payments went downhill and they started having a lot of changes at ac. The changes weren't all good either. Now there are computer problems no one admits to and contributors constantly complain about upfronts and pv. I got mad and I wasn't trying to decieve anyone, but how can an article I write not be worth anything until it shows up on a guys page. I love ac and I can't believe this happened. My husband told me they were trying to get rid of me and I just thought it was his paranoia. LOL

I would have to agree. My husband has an account with them and one of the articles that was refused by my content editor, I put on his account. He's still a newbie. They gave him over $3.50 for it. I was mad. I think there are more than one content editors and some of them screw with you!

Oh my gosh! I never thought of that. You might be right. That's a horrible thought but it would explain a lot. They don't really edit the work so I have a feeling a computer does it. In fact, I'm almost positive, because if you mix words like our and are the article still gets accepted for upfront pay.

I agree. They just keep business as usual and the ones that complain get thrown to the wolves or sharks because as Canellita pointed out, there are others taking our place everyday. I guess I expect businesses to have quality control and integrity but they don't. It's like if I worked somewhere and they told me they were cutting my pay. They have every right to do that. It's just whether or not I will still work there. Like ac, the company wouldn't care because there are so many people looking for jobs.

Quality control in any business is only as good as the people who are charged with maintaining the quality level and then it is still a matter of interpretation. I don't write locally anymore because these small time editors can't tell the difference between style and content. One young editor/publisher in particular paid a whole bunch of money to have someone tell her exactly what I did and she still didn't have it together. Some of these publications do not even pay but based on social situations I have been willing to contribute to them because it was a byline and I could do what I wanted without having to go into a hard sell or wait for a query letter to be acknowledged but then they started messing around with my stuff. One article in particular was meant to be a stepping stone to something else and when it came out in print it was so botched up I looked like an idiot. They would change one word to another because the other one sounded better, never mind it didn't mean the same thing! I digress... I suspect AC may have volunteers reading those articles that we submit and since you get what you pay for...