EHOW Members React Angrily to Switch to Demand Studios

The world's biggest user-submitted articles site, eHOW, recently switched to using Demand Studios for content rather than accept direct contributions from its members. The move stunned eHOW users, leaving many of them angry while others feeling confused, and yet others used the incident as an opportunity to plug competing sites. I had joined eHOW less than a month ago and never got the chance to submit any "how to" articles since their editing interface wasn't working. However, I did have the chance to ask active members for their reaction to the sudden turn of events at eHOW.

A number of members had been accepted automatically into Demand Studios if they met certain performance criteria during the time they wrote articles for eHOW . Most of those who responded to my query weren't accepted and thus would have to apply for acceptance at Demand Studios through an application that even requires the upload of a c.v. Not all the users who were pre-accepted were jubilant. Dustin, who qualified for Demand Studios responds: "No, I won't be publishing any new articles through DS due to the fact that as soon as you publish a new article you lose all ownership rights and can't supply YOUR content anywhere else..." Most members would fit into the same category as Dustin, authors who syndicate their articles to many different sites, thus having to submit exclusive content is a sticking point for them. However, exclusivity only applies to paid assignments by Demand Studios, as opposed to completely original works.

Angrier members are deleting the content they uploaded to eHow before the switch, such as images, worried about losing their copyright to Demand Studios . One such user told me "You are selling everything (for a few cents) to Demand -- but they can use your works anywhere and not pay you anymore."

A user nicknamed formythreeboyz, among the many confused members, writes "Not too sure what I plan on doing. I got really excited and had a lot of fun writing for Ehow...I am just waiting to hear what I am supposed to do next." Another user expressed fear of Demand Studios' application process: "As their name says, they are very demanding and I don't qualify". While still another worries about their true intentions: "I would just be providing them with information for their email marketing list, which they might sell to others". Finally, there's the member who claims eHow deliberately deleted articles, causing users to not qualify for automatic participation in Demand Studios. "Snowfence" believes eHow's future is bleak: "What is eHow supposed to become now? A playground?! Geez!"

A few eHOW writers are more hopeful about the change. " I am hoping this switch will at least correct ALL the publishing issues. It is no fun when Ehow never seemed to work properly.", writes one of them. Could the notorious technical flaws have been one of the things that prompted them to abandon the community format that had been so successful? Another user, John, has this advice for his fellow members: "I think it is good because all the quitters will go away.... this is almost like a Network marketing approach.... those who stick with it will make the big bucks. Don't Quit."

Cynicism is in no shortage among the disenchanted members. One, also named John, says: "So Now I can't write for eHow or Demand Studios! Oh well, I'm going to focus on writing for myself!" Did eHOW err? To quote one member: "Overall I am sad to see a good thing come to an end."