With all due respect Rod, I could never take a comparative study seriously if it were put together by the person(s) who stand to gain from it. A link to an independent survey would work for me.
Pls accept as a kinda peace offering 
tonyflanigan, donât take this the wrong way but your comments donât add anything to the discussion. The state of my English does not reflect whatsoever on the validity of my claims, and I certainly havenât claimed to be a specialist in the English language, it happens to be something I struggle with (Dyslexia). Iâve found a very real correlation between people who use sites like oDesk, guru (et al) and the degradation in the overall quality of the work. Using my own use of English as a discrediting statement is a straw-man argument in the same way as claiming because you donât have children, you cannot know anything about them. 
PS: If you want to talk semantic correctness, itâs not the âQueensâ English in the slightest, she neither invented or owns the rights to the language and back when the language was formed, the English monarchy (if formed) would have certainly been ruled over by a âKingâ (if my history is correct).
Heya Alex!
Iâm not going to get involved in a scrap.
My original comment on this thread reflected my opinions on the topic matter under discussion, as per the question raised by the poster of this thread. If you have a problem with oDesk, or with me, that is your privilege.
As far as I am concerned, our (now off-topic) discussion is closed.
tonyflanigan has presented his opinion of those freelancer sites mentioned. I found his opinion interesting. In my opinion, his comments do add something to the discussion.
If I remember correctly, you were the one who started this criticism of English usage, so you really shouldnât play the victim here.
Since RodSmith of Rent a Coder posted his first comment on this thread we have been involved in private dialogue.
I hereby sincerely apologise to Rod, and the staff at RaC, for creating any misconceptions regarding their business.
My problem with them started when I read a post here:
http://www.webdesign.org/web-design-basics/design-principles/web-design-secrets-revealed.5236.html and assumed their acceptance and approval of this article. In a response from RaC they said to me, and I quote:ââŠwe encourage under-qualified service providers or participate in buyer exploitation because we donât.â
Other matters were raised by both parties, and dealt with. I have been to the RaC site again, and shall in due course, when the workload situation warrants, sign up there.
This apology has not been made under any terms or conditions, and is freely given, without promise or intimation of any reward.
Once again, Nicole and Rod, my apologies.
I have used RAC. Minor problems there are the low bid requests such as twenty 500 word articles in four days for under $100.00. Another glitch I find at RAC is their mis-understanding of âwork for hireâ and copyright protection for the seller.
However, you can work around that and if you persevere you can find some decent bid requests. After that, itâs how you sell your skills to the buyer that determines whether or not you âwinâ a project.
If (when?) my workload permits, I am going to look further into several other sites that I rarely see mentioned. 1) Constant Content and 2)Freelance success and 3)designquote.net
I also wrote an article that may help you find work at freelance sites.
I donât recommend the freelance website, they are full of fraund buyers, who mostly donot pay after work and flee like a rat after the completion of work. Market yourself personally.
I agree fully with the personal marketing. However, to maintain a flow of work we often use freelance websites. Responsible bidding, at decent rates, and checking the buyer out before accepting a job are critical. We have had excellent results, through applying due diligence when applying for, or accepting work.
I know this thread is like 2 months old, but Iâd like to get my word in about GAF. GAF is one good way to meet potential long term clients, really. If you do good work, chances are these clients would contact you over and again, and allow you to have some negotiation power as to how you want to get paid. Also, try only those with real good reputations, as GAF provides a buyer rating system to be displayed under the buyerâs usernames.
Am not really into Odesk, so I canât compare.
But be sure to check out essaywriters.net. They have some good projects for academic research and paper writers.
Here are a couple of other places to check out:
http://www.freelancejobsearch.com/
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?f=24
http://articlestrade.com/
IMHO you should set up your own site to showcase a portfolio of your abilities. You could also specialize in writing for a niche.
Hope this helps.
I use rentacoder regularly as a buyer and also a worker.
Would recommend it to the end over any other.
o desk is good but you can also get good content writer on digital point
I do, usually these sites will charge the person winning the project bid a percentage from the project cost. More often than not, the employer places the money in an escrow (I think it is the safest way for both parties), then once the project is completed the escrow is released and the employee gets paid. The person can then transfer the funds to their paypal account.
I have to AGREE that GAF is overcrowded with people looking for bargain jobs. I often feel like I am at a fleamarket when I am there. Although I have found quality workers, the VAST MAJORITY, are full of it. They talk the talk but canât walk the walk.
Sorry, I had to point out that you made me laugh. I too struggle with Dyslexia, but am proud to say it has not been an impediment for my success!!!
Me either! Of all things Iâve become a published author. Not bad for someone with awful spelling and grammatical skills (my copy editors had some sleepless nights) 
Freelancer.com , Odesk, Digital Point, Warrior Forum.
If you are afraid of not being paid by some employees of Freelancer.com, only work with people who have already get good reviews.
Using the escrow account is an excellent point. It is something that everyone involved in the flame throwing forgot to mention and I too had forgotten about. Glad you brought it up.
Taking the risk of also being attacked I am compelled to say this. One thing that I always thought was pretty great about a forum was that we could be ourselves, pretty much, without having to worry too much about our âcorrectâ grammar and could use colloquialisms without being attacked for lacking in the âKingâs Englishâ. Granted it is often difficult to understand someone that is not born to speaking English, but nitpicking over a few words, typo errors or Dyslexia is well, just nitpicking.
Sometimes it just becomes such an irritant when an attack gets made in reference to someones English, typing or whatever skills, it just makes me think to myselfâŠlighten up people ⊠is this the only thing in life that is bothering you? If that is it, please pick up a newspaper and find something else to be upset about. There is a lot out there.
Jenny, thanks for your post as yes, it is a chuckle!
Out of all this flack, I hope that Colocated was actually able to glean something useful from the conversation and not end out more confused than ever.
The task of content writing as a freelance writer is todayâs worldâs one of the most sought after jobs. Due to its open nature, people tend to look into various websites like odesk, getafreelancer.com and so on with a view to manage themselves good content writing jobs.