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Is it normal for a public request to disappear. I wrote one article and linked it in the Q&A of the request and now the request is gone. I even have the email. Does that normally happen?

Yes, it happens! Who knows, the customer may have changed his mind or had his request filled.

I would agree, EXCEPT this is the third time in as many weeks that this has happened with this requestor. Twice I have written to his large requests only to have them disappear hours later. I don't think I'm going to waste my time writing his topics unless the requests stay up for more than one day.

Does anyone at CC have any information on this? Does he just pull them hours after the request is made because of response? It just seems unprofessional, but he has a high buyer index.

I would agree, EXCEPT this is the third time in as many weeks that this has happened with this requestor. Twice I have written to his large requests only to have them disappear hours later. I don't think I'm going to waste my time writing his topics unless the requests stay up for more than one day.

Does anyone at CC have any information on this? Does he just pull them hours after the request is made because of response? It just seems unprofessional, but he has a high buyer index.

I am guessing you know who I am talking about then. I have not written for these requests in the past, but I did respond to the request in the Q&A wondering about the details. If they wanted these articles grouped together, what would happen to the group if out of five titles, one was already purchased separately. I did ten titles and bundled them only to have to delete those and resubmit as separate articles. Now I feel as though I am behind the bunch on this one. You have to be fast that is for sure.

Summer

I have been keeping track of what he has purchased (or, presumably it's him) so that I didn't write on a topic he already bought. He did continue to purchase in two batches after he pulled the request. From my calculations, only about 38 of his original 184 topics have been purchased. Another 35 topics have been written and posted.

However, it would be nice to know if he still wants all the other topics. He had said he'd do additional topics in a private request if there was someone who could do it, so I worry that he's done that, and I'm wasting my time by continuing to write.

I have had a public request that turned private request on me (I got the private request) and as soon as the customer put in the private request, the public request was removed. Not this customer, but it's probably what happened.

It's courteous of the customer to remove the request once it has been filled. I reviewed . . . errr, you don't want to *know* how many articles I reviewed yesterday . . . so don't feel frustrated. There were so many authors trying to beat each other out of the request that there were some problems.

Ed

As a new writer myself this has sparked two questions:

Are public request always removed one filled, or is something up there dated 9.24.07 still an active need?

I have checked the Q&A sections for articles I am interested/working on for submittal. If it says "No questions and answers exist for this request" does that mean no one has "linked" their approved article to the request yet?

I have two ready to submit, but both are for requests from late September.

Thanks.

Always Smiling,
Elizabeth

I guess the bad taste in my mouth from this type of request is that it is simply fishing for hungry writers which feels slightly insulting. Because the topics are so specific, you won't sell the articles to anyone else, so there are many hours wasted all around.

I suppose that's why we get to pick and choose what requests we respond to.

Hi Elizabeth,

When you check the Q&A under a description of a Public Request it only shows the Questions and Answers you've had with the client. The best way to see if the client is still in need of articles is to send them a question about it through that section. Hopefully they will answer - but that's not always the case.

Hope this helps.

To update, I have noticed this customer has purchased several more articles (mine and others') today, despite having removed the public request. I'm not sure if he was just overwhelmed with the number of messages or if he did ask just one person to write them, but he (or she) is still buying them.

I do have to ask myself at what point to stop writing/submitting them, because as someone mentioned above, it is not like anyone else is going to purchase them.

Ed, sorry for all of the extra work! I was thinking about that! I am in a situation where I had the time to watch which ones had been purchased and which had already been written, but I noticed a lot of people submitting some today that had been purchased already yesterday. It would be courteous (I liked the choice of words) of the client to perhaps have modified the request so we don't waste your reviewing time!