The biggest problem is every outlet Static owns is a factory, hence a factory mentality. It's about churning out as much content as humanly possible, most of it SEO driven (i.e. the same articles everyone is running to take advantage of algorithms). It was disheartening to see the outlet I worked at steadily become less focused on writer-driven content and more on what got maximum yield in terms of hits. As time went on the site became inundated with constant policy changes ("please don't do blank blank"), the kind you might expect once every few months that became a (literal) every-other-day thing. Some editors were overzealous about doing point-by-point critiques of writers' work, even for people who worked there a year+, like a random TSA search at the airport. (It was not just me.) If you submitted something that was a little off, you might even get punitive measures like having assignments cancelled, which is demoralizing to say the least. They call it "hitting pause" and say it's "not meant as punishment," but it is. Having been in the business long enough I can tell you it's not normal. Even the decent editors seem extremely beleaguered by the amount of employees, articles, and policy enforcements they have to keep track of, to the point where I sometimes worried for their mental health. Static was bullish about hiring as many freelancers as possible, to the point where they have incentive programs for bringing in new hires, but they seem to care little about retaining them judging by the high turnover rate and frequent purges. Overall, if you're new to the business you might be able to put up with the nonsense and even thrive here, but if you have any experience whatsoever you will inevitably get disenchanted to the point where you're just punching the clock and cashing the check.
