In Open Letter - Helium closes its doors on non English speaking Writers By Sreelata Menon, Bangalore, India
Categories: Open Letter
Tags: India non English speaking Writers Sreelata Menon Bangalore closes doors Open Letter Helium
This is what I found in my inbox the other day. And apparently I am not the only one.Dear Sreelata,
As you may be aware, Helium recently changed its policy about accepting contributions from every country around the world.
Helium.com instituted this policy as a result of careful consideration of its members and its publishing partners. Since our goal is to become the top-quality content site on the web, we realize that, as a US-based company, we cannot accept writers from countries where English is not the primary language. It has put those writers at a disadvantage in rating and getting the most from writing on Helium. To prevent frustrations from all writers and to limit staff time spent trying to accommodate non-English-speaking writers, we have decided to stop accepting submissions from locations that may have a negative impact on the quality of our site.
Because you cannot access Helium, or will soon be blocked from access, we feel it is only fair to remove your content from the site. Full rights to the work revert to you. We recognize that the version of your work that exists on Helium may be your only copy, so we will not begin removing content for four weeks (in mid-July). (For an easy way to copy multi-page articles, click “Print article” in the Article Tools tab on your article page, then copy and paste that version to your computer.)
If you have earned over the $25 minimum payout, we will be crediting your Paypal account.
Readers from around the globe are welcome to enjoy Helium's articles. In the future, we hope to be able to offer a full experience of Helium that works well for everyone.
Thank you for your understanding
So wouldn’t you say even for Obama’s protectionist anti outsourcing America this is carrying things a little too far?
Though I realize that many of our youngsters who have no clue about writing the Queen’s language do constantly send in stuff, paying scant respect to grammar and punctuation, a blanket ban on all writers from the sub continent and elsewhere does seem a bit much.
What stops them from rejecting substandard articles outright? Why do they even need to send it in for editing?
Do they actually believe that all those who are based in English speaking countries are naturally good writers and therefore publishable? Maybe they do and that’s why this short sighted change. In any case they are not exactly known for their far sighted ness!
How threatened they must feel to come out with such a ridiculous policy. Oh they are sure to, in justification come out with some disclaimer or the other about keeping the really good Indian writers while weeding out the not so good ones etc when they face writers’ fury ! But to even issue a letter on such lines smacks of an arrogance that only the ignorant or the scared can portray.
Sites like helium are usually testing grounds for first time writers who then move on to better sources once they break in. Quality writers do not stay regardless of their nationality.
Removing inactive writers (like me) I can understand but to ban all writers based on their location and nationality regardless of the quality of their writing really takes the cake.
It is even worse than the kind of chauvinism happening in Australia. It only shows up their bigoted and prejudiced mindset.
Something that is becoming more and more apparent with each passing day.
Good sense should in time surely prevail?
But writers if it doesn’t
Who cares! It’s their loss!
They feel threatened, that's all. But I can tell you that a good writer in any language is sought after by everyone. They even get translated. Intellectual thirst is universal and let us keep updating ourselves instead of feeling put out.
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yes true, but we don't need to condone or accept passively such blatantly divisive policies either, especially from a run-of-the-mill site with literary pretensions. None of the writers who received these mails-and there are many really good ones too- are going to quit writing or lose much sleep over it but it surely needs to be condemned outright?
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You are 100% right in condemning such narrow policies. But there is nothing to mourn about. The loss is theirs. Remember,Indians were the first ones who feared Globalization. But globalization has only benefitted Indians while it has revealed the emptiness of other countrymen, in several spheres. There is nobody now who can stop globalization and in the process the best and the cream will be sought after. I have no doubt about this and I wish you and everyone the best. Helium is not the entire web.Cheers/
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http://www.techgoss.com/Story/228S11-Web-Writer-s-Platform-ejects-most-Indian-writers.aspx
I am glad you brought this up here, the link above was my report of the same in another website. We need to get this discussed and noticed by as many as possible.
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Very nicely done Suneetha.Extremely objective a piece as any!
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Hi Sreelata, i got the very same email and i retorted to them saying i no longer wished to associate myself with sites having narrow minded policies like Helium.com, but the mail bounced back to me. Hypocrisy... thy name is...
talk about a global world and an open market economy! what more is racism and discrimination?
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I thoroughly agree with your closing lines Sreelata.
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U managed to prick Helium's baloon and let all their gas out. Good for u, Sreelata. What a ridiculous policy!
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Hi all,
Not all writers from India have been blocked....only some writers from Indian IP Adresses.
Though I do not say it was an informed decision, or that I support the same, the action was necessary as there was a sudden influx of huge quanity viral writing (with rickshaw wallah English) from Indian IP Adresses. Seeing is believing, in this case! Though it beats me how and why this sort of writing / writers turned up over a weekend.
Please keep on mind, this is a 2yr old INSTANT PUBLISHING portal, with the largest writers bank. So sometimes, logistics dictate some actions. However, all of us are working together to reinstate interested writers, an ongoing albeit slow process.
Incidentally, it is an Indian writer who has instigated the entire decision, which makes me sad.
Yes, I am still at Helium, and look after some of the knowledge based channels, including Hinduism.
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I was a part of Helium's Indian writers and contributed with such joy as I found the fellow writers very caring and helpful apart from my articles being mostly on top. The only problem here is that instead of blocking all the site should have blocked that particular section which was causing all the trouble.
This letter which we all got and another which denied me any earning below25$ was not in a good taste. This is my personal feeling. We all write to be paid on these sites don't we. and in cases like this one at least Helium should have considered those who fulfill their quality standards.
I am sure all of you at Helium will look into the matter and do the needful. Though I think all my efforts and earnings are lost.
Tiku
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Sreelata, we don't even have to consider talking about subjective sites that block talent soley on the basis of ethnicity. Even writing about it gives them importance.
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Ah!Sangeetha you mean 'some Indian writers have not been blocked'!! Why would they if they are part of the set up?
I did wonder if you were with helium any more.I remember you wrote me a very nice mail after reading my piece there on freelancing long ago.
And so having an Indian Ip address is now a no no!
Actually its solely helium's prerogative to ban or not- its the principle of the whole thing.They could have used another excuse- that they didn't is what is galling.
How would you/anyone feel if you recd a letter from 4iw banning all writers from West Bengal because english is not your primary'tongue'.Can all writers be lumped together because of a location?No offence -this was just to put my point across whatever the reason.Thats all.Pax!Here is another link -a take off on Suneetha's piece
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2009/06/global-shlobal/
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Hi everybody, it's good that this topic about non-English speakers\writer has come up.
It's really frustrating to see this happening time and again to Indians. For me as an English teacher, there are 1000s of openings but the moment they realize that we are Indians the doors are shut on us. Have worked with the international crowd and am proud to say that we Indians(non-English)have a better grasp of the English language than our counter parts. As Srividya rightly points out they probably feel threatened by us. Wish this segregation could stop and we are equal opportunities in the International Market.
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The ban doesn't sound justified to me.
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I am a newbie freelance writer and most of the article sites that I visited had a strict policy against Non native speakers, and I assumed Helium was one of them to start with.
But which are the sites that pay to write articles? Any experienced writers care to elaborate?
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Do check out my book 'Freelance writing for the newbie writer'...there are a few links there if I remember right!!
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Yes actually you're right Shail but then how do we get to know about such things if we didn't..specially the insider insight from helium .. why am I not surprised that it's an Indian behind the whole helium stunt?
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Sreelatha,
Funny a giant like M&B commissions Indian authors, u have another site like helium coming up with this. Just imagine what can happen if the Indian Govt bans all authors who are not Indians
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Petty minds,petty policies! But it's actually no skin off our noses!How many of us are really affected!Not many I'm sure.Yes in the face of this outsourcing onslaught and India bashing it generates some interest but it is more disbelief than anything else!
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I did feel the same resentment when I applied for an editing that asked for only 'native speakers' of English...this is a totally Indian publishing house. Sad to have such blanket assumptions made based on origins, birthplaces and IP addresses! Good you wrote about it.
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Ridiculous!After facing such things,it becomes hard to believe that we live in a civilised world!
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Hi all,
I have chosen not to respond individually.
At the outset, neither have I been involved in the decision-making process, nor am I "with it".
I agree with all of the comments here, and as a writer I can understand well how it is being on the receiving end.
As a few writers who have commented here are aware, I have done my best to sort the matter, and acounts were being restored. I have even extended support to Suneetha for a fair write-up / reportage. However, the umbrage & criticism springing from the same has resulted in a total freeze of the re-instating process.
I can only say I am genuinely sorry, and hope this will egg on entrepreneurs in India to start more writing markets so we Indian writers are able to give a whole new meaning to globalisation !
On an aside, my perspectives are clear, I am at Helium to share my knowledge base about Hinduism and other things Indian. From the wording of the mails to Indian writers, it does seem evident, a lot of work needs be done to clear up myths in the West about India and its culture.....
An equally grieved fellow Indian
http://www.helium.com/users/248704
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Not To worry Sangeetha!As Srividya said "helium' is not the whole web and it really doesn't matter one way or the other to most writers(me included!)I'm sure other than as a debating point on a matter of principle.Your point on having more good Indian sites for writers is well taken.Lets hope they happen.Thank You.
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Firstly, let me congratulate you on the title.
Yes, in this era of internet and gadgets, one needs constant improvisation in parenting guidelines.
While my daughter's classmates have been on Orkut and FB past 2 years, I allow her to indulge in "chats" only, with select friends of MINE and her maasis / buas. Again just last week, I was shocked when another new practice began in her class, that of exchanging games and who knows what vide flash/ pen drives. Am yet to work around this, though thankfully she is very scared of viruses, so has been refusing so far.
Rather than direct monitoring, I feel it is better to allow a child to function under a given set of guidelines, and allow her to learn from her mistakes, while guide them along.
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