Is it Contract Change Season?

Heads up DMS writers who have not logged in at Demand this weekend: just a couple of days after Yahoo Contributor Network's contract change, Demand Media Studios is following on their heels.

While coercing workers into agreeing to a new contract under the threat of no longer being permitted to work hinges on the unethical under any circumstances, legal or not, at least in comparison to Examiner about a year ago and now YCN,  DMS had the grace to give writers a heads-up so it would not be a total surprise when logging in.

They have an announcment up on the writer's dashboard stating that all writers are to log out Monday morning for site updates, after which it will be required that writers accept the new contract terms or they will not be able to access the dashboard.

In other words, if you don't agree, you're fired. I know they don't technically "hire" their writers, but since you have to apply and be accepted, then apply for each special project, and they offer insurance and benefits in the form of Demand Deals discounted merchandise, the terms hired and fired fit the situation.

In closing, I do plan to agree because I can't really foresee any reason not to "sign", since you sign away all rights to your work when DMS buys it anyway. As long as they pay the amount they offer on the day they say it will be there, I don't see what difference it makes; maybe if you wrote revshare articles for them, but as I understand they are not doing any eHow right now, so revshare would be off the table anyway.