I received an email this morning about the freelance writing jobs blog, and the fact that there are some subscription-based sites included in the listings I provide (some free and some paid services). I’d like to just clarify a few things publicly for everyone’s benefit, and then ask for your suggestions.

Clarification

1. I’ve always included some membership-based sites in the job listings, and I won’t be removing them altogether.

2. Frankly, it’s not fair to judge the merit of a potential gig based on where the prospective client chose to post it. If I were going to eliminate any type of jobs based on the merits of where they’re posted, I’d much sooner remove things like free Craigslist listings that tend to be some of the poorer quality jobs.

3. Even though you may not be a member of some of these sites, that doesn’t mean other visitors aren’t, or that they won’t decide to become one if they repeatedly see decent gigs listed there. Just as not every gig will apply to every writer visiting the site, not every job site will either.

4. Although I choose to keep them on the freelance job lists, that doesn’t mean that I necessarily endorse any particular site.

Suggestions

Despite the fact that I see enough merit in these sites to keep them on my freelance job posts, I do understand the frustration to some degree. So, I’d like your thoughts on what, if anything, I can / should do to make the jobs blog more useful to you without removing those job options.

The thing that comes to mind is that I could mark those jobs in some way, so you don’t click on them if you know they’re a paid or free membership site (just one marking for all membership sites, or one for paid and one for free). Any thoughts on that or other ideas I should consider?

Looking forward to your feedback. :)