AOL Exposed: A Former AOL Employee Speaks Out
thefastertimes.com
AOL Exposed: A Former AOL Employee Speaks Out
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Re: AOL Exposed: A Former AOL Employee Speaks Out
#2[deleted]
Re: AOL Exposed: A Former AOL Employee Speaks Out
#3"AOL paid us as “independent contractors,"
AOL is treading a fine, fine line there.
The IRS defines an independent contractor as:
"The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if the payer has the right to control or direct only the result of the work and not what will be done and how it will be done."
This is a notoriously ambiguous definition but with AOL's rigorous guidelines, deadlines, and instructions it sure seems like this isn't an "independent" work force.
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=179115,00....
Re: AOL Exposed: A Former AOL Employee Speaks Out
#4Maybe this is an idealistic thought, but I think this trend of writing SEO laden garbage is what will finally make quality journalism behind paywalls work. People will eventually be driven to pay for decent content, unable to put up with irrelevant half baked articles churned out at breakneck pace.
Re: AOL Exposed: A Former AOL Employee Speaks Out
#5Alec Baldwin was the celebrity in question referenced in the article in case you're wondering.
Re: AOL Exposed: A Former AOL Employee Speaks Out
#6Alec Baldwin was the celebrity in question referenced in the article in case you're wondering.
The author did give us the keywords to find this out on our own.
Re: AOL Exposed: A Former AOL Employee Speaks Out
#7Maybe this is an idealistic thought, but I think this trend of writing SEO laden garbage is what will finally make quality journalism behind paywalls work. People will eventually be driven to pay for decent content, unable to put up with irrelevant half baked articles churned out at breakneck pace.
I pay for publications like The Economist and The Atlantic (both of which I read entirely digitally) for exactly that reason. I want quality content when I sit down to spend my precious reading time on something.
I can hardly imagine spending that time reading insipid, content mill junk. Who puts so low of a value on their time?
Re: AOL Exposed: A Former AOL Employee Speaks Out
#8AOL's plan to "beat the internet" with a content farm isn't working out so well yet?
Re: AOL Exposed: A Former AOL Employee Speaks Out
#9Re: AOL Exposed: A Former AOL Employee Speaks Out
#10AOL has a responsibility to its shareholders first and foremost. Making employees write about stuff they don't know about is not exactly slave labor... if they don't like it, then just quit, it's that simple.