I know you feel strongly that your business model doesn’t devalue the work of writers, but if writers are providing their work for you for free (as at least one writer on this site has attested is the case), then it’s hard for other professionals in the industry not to look askew at what you’re doing.
There’s a community on this site that cares about other writers succeeding, and it’s hard for us to hear about those whose work isn’t properly valued.
Great point, Kristen – I’d like to invite my plumber over and ask him to redo a bathroom while I train him up on what I want, and then I’ll decide whether to hire and pay him.
First, I’m sorry that you feel attacked here. I’m confident that was not Danyelle’s intention, 
nor was it Carol’s. Danyelle simply posted about her experience and that she didn’t find it a profitable one.
However, I think I speak for many freelancers when I say that nothing you’ve said in this comment thread instills the slightest confidence that your publication would be a good one to write for.
That should be the absolute bottom-barrel hourly rate beginning freelancers should shoot for – otherwise, they’re going to find it difficult to pay for things like quarterly taxes, health insurance, and the other necessities self-employed people must pay out of pocket
First, if I’m understanding correctly, you require potential writers to go through a bootcamp before joining your actual team. In this bootcamp, for which there is no compensation paid to the potential writers, they have to write several articles, on spec, again for no compensation. IF any of those articles are accepted for publication, then there’s a chance that they might make some money for the writer.
To put it frankly, there is absolutely no way I would ever agree to such terms. You’re asking me to spend hours of my time in a bootcamp with no guarantee of any pay whatsoever. You’re asking me to produce “sample” articles for you, instead of the normal editorial process of providing already-published clips. For brand-new writers with no clips, I could understand giving a trial period, under which they’d write one or two articles on an assigned topic for pay. But not a whole, unpaid bootcamp with several unpaid articles required.
Second, you keep telling us what a great opportunity you provide, and how writers can make a real living…but you still haven’t explained how. You have skirted around the issue of providing real numbers, which again does not instill much confidence. As a professional, when I judge a writing opportunity I want to know exactly how much I can expect to make. Your version of a “real living” and mine might be – and, I suspect, are – wildly different. If you could provide us an average monthly income from your entire writing staff as a whole, and then from your top five or ten earners, that would paint a much clearer picture. I would also want to know how many articles those writers are creating in order to make that amount, so that we could calculate their average hourly income.
Her use of the term “content mill” may have been misspoken
Are your top earners making at least $100 an hour? I’m talking about their total hourly rate, after they’ve spent time writing 30-60 articles per month (!!), edited however many more they’re supposed to edit from the writers below them, etc.
With respect, sir, it just doesn’t sound like you’re providing a viable opportunity for actual professional freelancers…and I suspect you don’t even realize that’s the case.