They asked me to write a 1000-word article before we even discussed my rate. I pushed and they finally said $150-$250 for approximately 1000 words. That was on the low side, but I agreed. Wrote the article and they accepted it. Agreed the rate of $250 for articles of around 1200-1500 words (USD). Ok, not great but the brief was decent so they shouldn't require much research. They said all articles had to be written within 24-hours. Restrictive but ok, that's their model and I can work with that. Then they sent me the contract. It had an non-compete clause in it - for a freelance role with no guaranteed amount of work. Completely absurd. When I asked to remove this clause they immediately said no and cut off all contact. They also demanded a background check, which is bizarre for this kind of work (generic, SEO-optimized, tech content marketing) and very invasive imo. And everyone I was in contact with wrote their emails in the same weird stilted way, like they use AI. The job I applied to is constantly advertised so they obviously have a lot of work and a high turnover. Maybe could work if you jump through their hoops and don't assert yourself and don't mind this being your only thing. But it's for sure not for me.