Bicycle Safety for Dummies

bike path marking

 One of the larger problems of the content farms that flourished before Google slapped 'em upside the head with the Panda II update was that more than a few of the self-appointed freelance journalists thought nothing of "writing" a post by performing a cut-reword-paste job on something they'd read somewhere else. Obviously, they'd be nailed for plagiarism without the rewording step, but they often lacked sufficient knowledge of their subject to realize when amokking in a thesaurus introduced problematic content. That, we suspect, is what happened when Terry Hurley tried to share a few "Bicycle Safety Tips" with everyone at LoveToKnow.com.

Becoming a Geologist for Dummies

geologist in the field

The more irksome of content-farm freelancers were prone to some bad habits, among them the habit of plugging random factoids into a template instead of actually learning about the topics in which they pretended expertise. Not long ago, our staff geologist ran across a post at LoveToKnow.com that purported to describe the process of "Becoming a Geologist." He snorted in derision, since the process Sally Painter laid out didn't match his experience.

Spiral Staircases for Dummies

Classic spiral staircase

We poke a lot of fun at the Leaf Group family of niche websites, mostly because the standards for those old eHow.com articles tended to be strong on style and weak on substance. Other content farms, however, were even more... forgiving? of writers who pulled stuff like bait-and-switch or advertising masquerading as information; both of which are instant qualifications for DotD status. The site called LovetoKnow.com, regardless of the tagline "Advice you can trust," does (did?) not appear to have much in the way of standards, which is why an wannabe food and interior decoration blogger like Sara Elliot could get away with a title like "Build a Spiral Staircase."

Estimated Taxes for Freelancing Dummies

Nobody likes paying taxes, are we right? But, as Benjamin Franklin (supposedly) said, "The only things certain in life are death and taxes." Well, something like that, anyway. And if we want to continue to have an army, roads, schools, libraries, and the like; even freelancers for content farms will have to pay taxes. We're talking freelancers like Courtney Ramirez of LoveToKnow.com, who probably needed more help than she got before writing "Freelance Writers and Estimated Taxes."

Hanging Doors for the Dummy Foodie

One of the little freelancer tricks that gets the goat of a lot of our research staff is the nearly perfect-seeming posts written by people who, in reality, know almost nothing of the topic. The culprits are usually J-school or English grads who've learned how to find stuff written by knowledgeable people and regurgitate it. There are always a few clues left scattered around, and the AN staffers are pretty adept at finding them. That's what happened when one of the kids found "Installing Interior Doors" over at LoveToKnow.com, as uploaded by Sara Elliot.¹

Bay Windows for the Dummy Carpenter

Bay window with window seat

Most do-it-yourself projects must be tackled in a step-wise manner, which is why so many of them are presented as a series of steps. Those who've tackled such projects know that some steps are simple and quick, while others are more difficult and require greater skill. Turning off a circuit breaker is easy, fishing a four-conductor 10-gauge wire through the wall from the attic is less so. Finding a freelance post that passes off the hard stuff as a simple "do this next" tends to raise the hackles of our DotD panelists, which is why Courtney Ramirez and her LoveToKnow.com post "How to Build a Bay Window"¹ are today's nominee.

Quartz Countertops for Dummies

Closing a seam in a quartz countertop

Based on the sort of posts our research staff turns up, one of the most prolific veins of freelance dumbassery seems to lie at the intersection of science and home decor. Whether it's well-meaning or not, the puff pieces pounded out by "decorators" and "decorating consultants" are a veritable font of misinformation. Take, for example, the article titled "Quartz Countertop"¹ (just one?), posted to LoveToKnow.com by first-time DotD Donna Sundblad.

Child Bike Safety Tips for Dummies

Kids and Bicycle Safety

One of our founders is an avid cyclist, who regularly rides on a heavily-used rails-to-trails path near his home. In his defense, he avoids it like the plague on weekends... Be that as it may, he's often thought he should set up shop at one of the major intersections with a sign saying, "For $5 I'll teach you how to shift that bike." That probably wouldn't help today's DotD nominee, Gabrielle Applebury, understand her topic better; because she doesn't live nearby. Based on her LoveToKnow.com article, "Bicycle Safety Rules for Kids,"¹ it's highly likely that she also doesn't ride a bicycle anyway.

Pet Doors for DIY Dummies

If there's one form of so-called freelance online "how-to" posts that tends to give our research staffers hives, it's the bait-and-switch job. To some extent we can understand it when a freelancer doesn't know enough to write instructions – understand it, but not forgive it. But when someone who claims relevant expertise pulls this trick, it definitely puts the BS in Bait and Switch. That's precisely what we have on our plate for today: LoveToKnow.com contributor Amy Whittle says she going to show us "How to Build a Pet Door"¹... but does she?

Shingles for Dummies

nailing a roof vent

If the staff of the Antisocial network were the type of people to be driven nuts; freelancers who do little more than copy, reword, and paste someone else's work would rank tight at the top of the nuts-drivers. They're easy enough to spot, of course, if you're already familiar (even a little bit) with the topic they've cribbed. One of our staffers has done a little roofing, which is why he was pretty sure that LoveToKnow.com's Beth Asaff hadn't – at least based on the article she posted, "How to Shingle a Roof."

Pocket Doors for Dummies

Pocket door

Our founder lived for several years in a gorgeous old Queen Anne farmhouse originally built in 1895. The biggest downside of the place was the wind whistling though the walls in winter; the upside was the sort of craftsmanship you no longer see in today's mass-produced tract houses. The main room on the ground floor (the parlor) had, believe it or not, three sets of pocket doors leading into adjacent rooms. We suspect that room alone featured three more pocket doors than freelancer Tracey Kelley had ever seen up close when she penned "Installing a Pocket Door" for LovetoKnow.com.¹

Hydrogen Generators for Dummies

If you stop by Amazon and browse the customer reviews, you'll find that one of the most common reasons why people give 1-star ratings to a product is "Not as advertised." We're with 'em: nobody likes the old bait-and-switch, whether it's an electrical circuit breaker tracer or a pair of socks. Here at the Antisocial Network, we are quite unimpressed by freelancers who pull that trick in hopes of picking up more pennies. Take, for example Matthew B. Dexter, a self-described freelancer with "expertise in outdoors [sic] living," and the bull he titled "How to Build a Hydrogen Generator"¹ at LovetoKnow.com. Yeah: "How to Build"...

Building Stairs for Dummies

Interior stairway

We've always figured that one of the reasons so many houses have just a single story is that any idiot can frame a wall, but it takes a craftsman to build stairs. Ba-dump-bump... But seriously, stairs are a true pain in the tuchus to build. If you'd like to see an idiot's approach to stair building, however, you don't need to look any further than Liz O'Donnell and the article she posted at LovetoKnow.com she claimed would tell you "How to Build Stairs."¹ Unfortunately, she lied...

O'Donnell, an interior decorator – not exactly what we'd think of when asked for a profession that knows a lot about framing carpentry – vomited out 574 words in her article. She opened by telling her readers that...

Installing a Prehung Door for Dummies

Pre-hung doors

It's often been said that "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach." Around the Antisocial Network, we like to add the following corollary: "Those who know nothing, freelance." Perhaps that seems rather cynical, but we suggest that you visit a content farm some time and read a handful or two of articles about any topic with which you're familiar: you'll probably start saying that same thing immediately! Today, we meet a business school graduate who considers herself a "freelance writer and editor"; a freelancer we would never hire to do any odd jobs around our offices, based on the mess Sue Lynn Carty (aka Sue-Lynn Carty in her incarnation at eHow.com) made when posting "Install a Prehung Door"¹ at LoveToKnow.com (where she probably should stick to her comfort zone, astrology and feng shui).