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Freelance Writing Organization Int'l

wurdwise

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The Freelance Writing Organization - Int'l: A free site
that hosts thousands of writing resource links in a
massive online database, 40+ genres, funds for writers,
job listings, education, news, submission calls, research
library. From adventure to westerns, agents to publishers,
all forms of free writing information is available.

http://www.fwointl.com
 
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bestseller

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Yes, I did, but too tired tonight to browse -- will do it tomorrow.
 

Julie Anne

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Looks like a great site until you read that one little line at the bottom that says "to read our free content, you must configure your email account to receive our advertising mailings" That just says to me "we're gonna clog your email with :Spam:

The way the site was set up practically "begging" you to join something that was free just struck a bad chord in me. I hope I'm wrong.

Julie Anne
 

wurdwise

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I regret posting that site now. I checked it out last night, and it is nothing it presents itself to be, believe me. Then, today, coincidentally? I got an email from Xlibris, the horror of horrors of self publshing. Sorry, guys, I think I found a dud. I am unscribing too.
 

Nikki Carlyle

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To the original poster: I wrote that fish eyed fool of the site and asked to be removed and to reply back when I was. I sent the email yesterday and received a reply today. Whether my information was removed or not, I can't say, but I do have an email stating that it was.


To Cattywampus: I'm not sure if your post was sarcastic or helpful. I personally don't think the person feels they were burned, just mislead. Nothing wrong with that. We've all been mislead and learn from it. No need to take it to extremes as going to ripoffreport.com:Ssh:. JMHO
 

cattywampus

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Wurdwise is intelligent enough to make his/er own decision about whether to go to ripoffreport or not. Please be aware that Catty is a very literal person: if I mean "If" I say or write "if." If is part of the message. You will possibly never know when Catty is being sarcastic, as Catty often doesn't know herself. She just says what she has to say as plainly and clearly as possible.

:Trophy: :crazy: :eek: :Headbang: :Smack: :Thumbs: :flag:
 
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chelle21

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I've been a member for two months now its cool though but it never posts anything but you got to keep checking back every blue moon because people grabbed there jobs as soon as they post.



 

sgtsdaughter

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cattywampus said:
Wurdwise is intelligent enough to make his/er own decision about whether to go to ripoffreport or not. Please be aware that Catty is a very literal person: if I mean "If" I say or write "if." If is part of the message. You will possibly never know when Catty is being sarcastic, as Catty often doesn't know herself. She just says what she has to say as plainly and clearly as possible.

Catty,

This is the stuff that makes the world go round! :D
 

Nikki Carlyle

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I wrote the guy from the site and told him why I wanted to be removed and here's his response:

Well, whoever gave you that advice (and I'd be interested in knowing where you heard this information) is either ill informed, a liar, or self-serving. They certainly haven't done well in advising you.

This tells me all I need to know about this site. I feel he remarks such as, "a liar" and "self-serving" to be out of line.
 

cattywampus

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Reminds me of the pop-up that pops up once in a while offering a free laptop, iPod (I don't even know what that is) or some other ostensibly valuable object just for "taking a few minutes" to fill out their survey. Then you're faced with an interminable number of pages to fill out until you come to the spot where you have to sign up with one of their sponsors to finish. That practice should be outlawed!

What do you guys think - should we form a union like the American Writers' Guild or whatever the deuce its name is? It burns me to think we're getting $5-$10-$20 for articles, and then they are selling them for hundreds of dollars! BTW, does anyone know what they actually sell them for? I have 6-7 things published at AC but I don't know that they're appearing anywhere else. They snuck two payments in on me today for $5, for articles I could swear they offered $20 for. Keep careful track of your sales, kids - I had already told them I'd keep the thing rather than sell it for $5, but there was some trouble with the "accept" button.

Thanks for reading.

Catty Big Mouth :crazy:
 

Betty W01

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I think I'll move this to the Background Checks/Beware board...
 

RowdyRhodes

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Hi folks,

This thread, even though it is years old, was brought to my attention a few days ago. I thought I'd post a response anyway since I'm the site manager at the Freelance Writing Organization. Not only that, but back in the day we assisted Jenna Glatzer in pushing her now famous books to a #1 spot on Amazon sales ranking.

Anyway, it's interesting how, when something is taken out of context or even completely misconstrued, how a thread like this can start and then snowball from there. Examples are:

Julie Anne
Looks like a great site until you read that one little line at the bottom that says "to read our free content, you must configure your email account to receive our advertising mailings" That just says to me "we're gonna clog your email with :Spam:

Our privacy policy reads as follows so I'm not sure how you got the idea that we spam our members:
----------------------
We're as concerned about privacy as you are and to that end we've made life simple here:

As long as you maintain a valid email address that allows our email to reach you and doesn't bounce back at us, then we'll be happy to continue providing you with free access to the writing resources we have here for as long as we can afford to operate.

So -- easily enough -- just make sure your anti-spam filters allow our email to be delivered to you and all will be well between us.

Our outbound email address name is : Freelance Writing Organization - Int'l and the mail comes from the site address: [email protected]

Welcome and enjoy the system.
We hope you have a great day!
Rowdy Rhodes
Site Manager
By the way:
Membership information is kept confidential.

Want to read what the "lawyers" suggest we say?
Membership Agreement

In order to access our writing resources you agree to provide an email address that is in proper working order and able to receive email from: "Freelance Writing Organization - Int'l" [email protected]. Furthermore you will maintain this email address so that it is in service, valid, current and not full. We agree to provide various writing resources and information to you free of charge in exchange for being able to email you at our discretion. We send anywhere from 1 to 6 emails/month. Either party may cancel this agreement at any time without cause for damage.

Privacy Policy

Your rights:

You have the right to; sign up, not sign up, or cancel your subscription if you have already signed up, at anytime.

We hereby grant you your right to privacy in that we do not rent, sell or in any manner knowingly distribute your email address and/or personal information to any third parties, for any reason whatsoever, unless a subpoena is issued requesting your personal information.

All personal information is kept confidential, is optional and used for demographic purposes only. Although we ask for your geographical location, we do not ask for your street address. Personal information, over and above your name and email is used only for demographic analysis and never revealed.

Our rights:

We reserve the right to email you, at our discretion, information that we feel may be of interest to you, including, but not limited to, our monthly publication(s) and, from time to time, carefully screened offers from qualified, relevant businesses and organizations. The number of the emails sent will vary, however the average is approximately four/month

We further reserve the right to cancel your membership at any point in time, without notice or liability, if we feel that there is a sufficient justifiable reason.

By submitting your subscriber information to our system you are agreeing to, and bound by, the above Membership Agreement and Privacy Policy.

If you do not agree, please do not sign up.

Sincerely,
"Our Suit Wearing Law Guys" {smile}
May 21st, 2001
----------------------

There are a number of places including Norton's Site Check, PageRank and a few others that will confirm we do not send a multitude of email to our users. You can also simply check our email archives to see how many are sent each month by going to http://www.fwointl.com/wordpress/

wurdwise
I regret posting that site now. I checked it out last night, and it is nothing it presents itself to be, believe me. Then, today, coincidentally? I got an email from Xlibris, the horror of horrors of self publshing. Sorry, guys, I think I found a dud. I am unscribing too.

I'm not sure where the Xlibris email came from. Could have been one of our advertisers however I don't really recall. Anything is possible, but I don't believe it was from us. I could look it up, then again we do generate some of our revenues from ads as since we don't charge anything to our members to access the thousands of free writing resources we have online for writers. Even if it did come from us, as mentioned above in our Privacy Policy/TOS we do send out at times ads on writing products and/or services.

Nikki Carlyle
This tells me all I need to know about this site. I feel he remarks such as, "a liar" and "self-serving" to be out of line.

The sentence has been taken out of the context of what Nikki originally stated to me which was:

"I was informed that by signing up for your site, a lot of spam will enter our mailboxes." See above privacy policy.

I still stand by the response. Anyone spreading the word that we spam is either misinformed, self-serving or a liar. It has to be one or the other since we never spam. My sentence might be a little rough around the edges but I have never professed to be politically correct.

Anyway, I just thought that since you were slamming away at my site without being properly informed I should clear things up a little and invite you all to stop by, join us, and find out for yourself so you can make informed comments.

If you'd like to contact me about this you can go to our Help Desk at http://www.fwointl.com/contact/ttx.cgi and if you want to sign up, give us a try at http://www.fwointl.com/FWOSignup.html

Take care,
Rowdy Rhodes
Site Manager
Freelance Writing Organization - Int'l.
- Est. 1999. 12,000+ members to date
- A Writer's Digest Top 101 Site
- #1 Writing Resource Site - The Writer
http://www.fwointl.com/
Publishers of:
Inkwell Newswatch (IN) -- Writer's Ezine
http://www.fwointl.com/in.html and
Writers Site News! A Weekly Emailed Newsletter
 

Marva

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I receive the fwointl newsletters and generally find them informative. I have not seen any spam related to receiving the newsletters. I don't sign up for many 'free' services because I already have enough to do.
 

RowdyRhodes

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I receive the fwointl newsletters and generally find them informative. I have not seen any spam related to receiving the newsletters. I don't sign up for many 'free' services because I already have enough to do.

Thank you Marva for supporting my position on this. And thank you for being a member of our site. I'm wondering how many writers at this site have not even contemplated signing up and utilising the thousands of resources we have because of this thread. Then of course there are the many thousands more that may have found this discussion through search engines and responded in the same way… moved on from exploring our system.

As for the other derogatory mentions here, I chock them up to a lack of knowledge about our system and ignore them because after close to 10 years volunteering at the site I know what we offer and how much we can assist writers in need of meaningful information.

wurdwise was correct in the description of our site when this thread was first started way back when and, in my personal opinion, it should not be in the "Bewares and Background Check" area of this forum.

It should be put out front where writers can see what we legitimately offer, the opportunities available to them and how we complement Absolute Write and what is offered here. Which is, and always had been, of excellent quality since it was started up by Jenna.

[I sometimes wonder how she's doing and think I should drop here a line. Seems something always gets in the way though. Any idea how's she's doing since she got married? That's about the last time her and I talked.]

Anyway, that is just my opinion on where this thread should be and I would never question a moderator's right to place a post wherever they feel it should reside.

Again I want to thank you for your supportive words.

Sincerely,
Rowdy Rhodes
Site Manager
Freelance Writing Organization - Int'l.
- Est. 1999. 12,000+ members to date
- A Writer's Digest Top 101 Site
- #1 Writing Resource Site - The Writer
http://www.fwointl.com/
Publishers of:
Inkwell Newswatch (IN) -- Writer's Ezine
http://www.fwointl.com/in.html and
Writers Site News! A Weekly Emailed Newsletter
 
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M.R.J. Le Blanc

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There is nothing wrong with being in the Bewares & Background Check forum. You're missing the point if you think it's supposed to be a mark against you. It isn't. Even just a peek on the first pages reveals agents and publishers, both legitimate and not so. It's a place of information, not a blacklist of who to avoid. The name should be enough indication of it: Bewares & Background Check. Many jobs do a criminal background check - it doesn't mean they think you're a criminal. It's a background check, plain and simple and doesn't mean anything more than that. When people listed here feel that the wrong information is being put out about their company they do exactly as you have done. They come and give info. They stick around to answer questions.