Another Dummy with 1099-Misc Instructions - The Freelance Files MMCC

Version of the IRS 1099-MISC warning

Besides the high probability that freelancers writing for the once and future eHhow.com had no idea what they were talking about, there were other common shortcomings of the information (and we use the word loosely there) published on the site. Chief among those was that the contributors, as they were called, had to meet a minimum word count (MWC). In other words, unless the hacks pounded out a couple hundred words on the topic, they wouldn't get paid. The last tie we looked, "You can't do that" is only four words; hence, no stipend. Whether Jonathan Shaffer was dissembling just to get some cash with "How to Print Your Own 1099 Misc Forms" (at BizFluent.com) or he was merely ignorant, we'll never know. That he was wrong, however, is rather obvious.

Fossil Fuels and Pollution for Dummies

Acid Rain Generation

The nice people at eHow.com (a subsidiary [perhaps the only one] of what is now known as Leaf Group) have long provided biographies for their contributors, ostensibly to demonstrate their qualifications. We had to wonder, however, what item in the bio of cleanup team member Melinda Hill Sineriz qualified her to write "How Fossil Fuels Create Pollution" for BizFluent.com. Was it her specialization in "business, personal finance, and career content"? we somehow doubt it, given some of her more egregious misstatements.

Oil Wells: Plus and Minus for Dummies - The Freelance Files MMLXV

Groundwater vs. oil reservoir depth

We know, we know: this has to be the gazillionth time the Antisocial Network has taken another English major to task for holding forth on science and technology they didn't understand. The problem is, they never learn! Back in 2012, some yutz by the name of Mitchell Brock (wonder what his last name is?) pretended to write about "The Positive & Negative Effects of Oil Wells."¹ Wonder of wonders, Leaf Group recognized it for schlock, and asked cleanup team member Melinda Hill Sineriz to rewrite it for BizFluent.com. The problem? Sineriz's version was only a slight improvement (even after a "review" by three-degree holder Michelle Seidel).

Oil Patch Salaries for Dummies

If that's one of the largest structures in
the world, those must be BIG pickups!

A friend, who for a while attempted to educate the clueless about how the oil industry works; bemoans the fact that whenever people think of drilling for oil, those giant offshore platforms come to mind. Oh, yeah, and too many people think those are "oil rigs," the clueless fools. People who are clueless about the oil industry happens to be the subject of today's DotD nominee, buzzword aficionado Bridgette Austin, and the rubbish she posted at BizFluent.com under the title "Oil Rig Jobs & Salaries."

Hours for the Dummy Worker

time and work

One of the items on the checklist our staffers use for nominating DotD candidates is something we call "failure of logic." That's a failing that most often seems to come from a lack of real-world experience, which may be why we often see that box ticked for freelancers who are still fumbling their way through college liberal arts degrees. Some, however, should know better, like eHowian Matt McGew, who claimed close to two decades of  journalism experience when he penned "How to Calculate How Many Hours You Have Worked" for BizFluent.com.

Adding Machine Instructions for Dummy Office Drones

If you wanted instructions on how to, say, drive a car with a manual transmission, you probably wouldn't be satisfied with detailed instructions about how to drive a specific vehicle. Let's say a 1974 VW Super Beetle (4 on the floor) vs. a 1961 Mercury Comet (3 on the tree). For one thing, shifting those two manual trannies is pretty different and for another, whatever you want to drive is probably different still (like the AN's fifth-generation Toyota Tacoma 6-speed). You want general instructions, not chapter and verse. Incompetent freelancers like eHow's Lacy Enderson never seem to figure out the "general" bit, as she amply demonstrated in "Adding Machine Instructions" at BizFluent.com.

1099-MISC Forms for Freelancing Dummies

Form 1099-MISC

You'd think that someone who regularly raked in a pile of cash for freelance work would be somewhat familiar with the ins and outs of the IRS forms for self-employment income and, especially, the infamous IRS form 1099-MISC. After all, that's the official record of a freelancer's pay, as many of our staffers know. Given that eHowian Rebecca Mecomber claims to be a "professional blogger and writer," she should probably be more familiar with 1099s and "How to Print a 1099 Miscellaneous Form" than her post seems to suggest... (see the post at BizFluent.com)¹

What Kind is Your Oil Well, Dummy?

Well symbols used in the oil industry

In the golden era of internet freelancing, i.e., before Google smashed most of the content farms flat with its Panda update, self-appointed "freelancers" could publish darned near anything, no matter how ridiculous. In order to protect the guilty, however, many of them adopted a nom de plume. Some were derivative of their real names, e.g., someone named Jane Charles pretending her name's "Jane Cee"; others were more obvious fakes; even creatively so. Today's DotD is the second kind and, given the quality of his output, probably for good reason: eHow's Angus Koolbreeze certainly showed his mettle in "Oil Well Types"¹ at BizFluent.com.

From the very first sentence, it's clear Koolbreeze (probably not his name; it's more likely the brand of his fan...) has no idea what he's talking about: