Look at this job post:

“I need someone to proofread 100 pages of text. This is very fast work. 100 pages of text lowest bid win. 1) please write down your credintials (ed. client’s misspelling) and tell me why i should choose you 2) i want it to be flawless I dont want any errors .. if i find error I will want my money back 3) Please post the lowest bid if you want the project“

Let’s see how many things we can find wrong/demeaning in this one…

1. This guy wants someone to proofread 100 pages quickly. (so far, so good)

2. This guy wants provider to list their credentials (ok, no prob with that)

3. Guy goes on to say that he expects a flawless document returned (ok, I’m still hanging on)

4. This guy THEN goes on to say that he is choosing the provider based solely on whoever bids lowest and if he spots any errors provider won’t get paid!!! WTF?

5. This guy has a lot of nerve. First of all if his document is 100 pages of text (average page of text is 250 words) this works out to a total of 25,000 words. The lowest bid allowed on Elance is $50, so people are bidding $50 to flawlessly proofread this guy’s 100 pages, 25k word document for $50, assuming they don’t miss something, in which case they can kiss that $50 goodbye.

People like this not only insult writers but it is genuinely laughable to think this guy is going to get high-caliber work with such a low regard for the provider.

For the record, he goes by the name of businessgame2000 on Elance in case you want to make a note to avoid this guy in the future.