Lee Gomes, technology columnist for the Wall Street Journal, does a bit of investigative journalism on one of the more charming opportunities brought to us via the world wide web.

That’s a sarcastic “charming” btw.

The opportunity: writers wanted. “To generate original content for websites. ”

Why? So the sites will rank high on search engines, earning ad dollars for their owners.

Gomes’ article focuses on the clutter aspect. “Legitimate information . . . risks being crowded out by junky, spammy imitations.”

What bothers me a lot more is that these people are scamming writers. The guy Gomes talked to, for instance, offers $100 for fifty 500-word articles. Cheap s.o.b.

25,000 words later — I bet you’d never even see your money.