Further developments on Helium.com
By Wanderlaugh
@Wanderlaugh (1622)
Australia
May 27, 2007 8:13am CST
I told the writers here I'd keep you people posted about the Helium saga. Good news. I got an article called "Backyard Geology the hard way" accepted for publication by one of Helium's partners in Helium Marketplace. That's a particular pleasure, because it's a story about the area I grew up.
For writers, Helium is good exposure, and a good place to see how other people write. If you've ever wondered if you can write and get noticed, it's free, it pays, and it's well worth a look at the quite surprising variety of material.
There's been a lot of talk about quality at Helium lately, and if you haven't seen the site, I'd be interested to hear opinions. Some of it is pretty technical, in the sciences. Some of it looks as if some people should have paid more attention in high school. Fascinating thing is that if you get enough writers together in the same place, everyone is quite different.
My stuff, of course, simply proves that writers have no ethics.
Actually, I've never really understood how anyone could look at my face and assume there was an ethical system attached to it... doesn't look at all likely, in my opinion.
5 people like this
3 responses
@joey_matthews (8354)
•
11 Jun 07
I haven't heard much about this site.
I believe I've heard about it from you and I saw a discussion from another friend who writes there. I would like to hear opinions on this to, my other friend mentioned it's a good site.
Certainly looks professional,
~Joey
1 person likes this
@Wanderlaugh (1622)
• Australia
12 Jun 07
It's the sort of site you can't look at without forming some opinions, generally strong ones, about content and presentation. I now have 58 articles on the thing.
@Wanderlaugh (1622)
• Australia
28 May 07
Ah, system problem, it seems. I replied, but used the email. Message through myLot follows.
@unusualsuspect (2602)
• United States
27 May 07
Congrats on the acceptance. I certainly hope they pay more than Helium's usual pennies-per-thousand-words. While I generally agree that exposure is good for writers, and I wouldn't complain if somebody offered me a nice little writing stint, or picked up on one of my brilliant creations, but I'm probably too picky about whose company I want to be seen in.
My quarrel with Helium is that good writing has to compete with utter garbage for ratings, and the good often loses. Also, for a site that touts itself as a knowledge base, the lack of dates for articles can negate their value. There's no way to judge whether information may be completely out of date and useless.
After trying a seemingly endless number of sites, I've settled in with Digital Journal. The pay is better than Helium, visibility is greater, and the site is being upgraded to more professional standards. Lots of crappy writing was grandfathered in before the new application process, but maybe they'll find a way around that eventually.
Can I look up wanderlaugh at Helium? Knowing what you usually write, I'm curious about the "no ethics."
@Wanderlaugh (1622)
• Australia
28 May 07
Actually, I'd agree about "picky". I like Helium because it's a big site, with the variety of tastes and styles. So far I've not been over impressed with the negatives, but that's now changing. They just scrapped 8000 articles because of low standard, and the implicit position is that will now be the benchmark. They did have to do it, but it's nice to see that they've started to make the demand for quality more than rhetorical.
I have bookmarked Digital Journal, and will have a good look when/if I get a chance to scratch myself.
Actually, you can just enter my name in the search engine. That's 54 articles at the moment, so bring a tent.
Have a look at my picture on my profile. Ethics? When?
