Dear The Odyssey Online,

I have been a writer for 2 years now, and an editor for a few months this platform. I love working for you, and love that you have given me a platform to express my writing and feelings. Unfortunately, I have been doing some reading of other Odyssey published articles and I have some complaints.

And I am definitely risking my position by saying this, but you publish a lot of things you shouldn't.

First off, some of the articles are just so terribly written and riddled with grammar errors. I am not claiming to be the perfect writer, as I AM NOT, but we have editors (but it is not their job to completely re-write articles). Regardless, the Odyssey should be hiring quality writers. How can you be okay with publishing articles that aren't 100% publish ready? It looks bad for EVERYONE involved.

I know that it is a platform based on the idea of freedom of expression, but when you allow blatantly FALSE information to be published, that is a HUGE problem. How hard would it be to fact check? When I post articles that include any information outside of my knowledge, I check for and use reliable sources.

One of the best (and by best I mean worst) examples of this is a fairly popular (with over 1.7 mil shares) article, I Am A Feminist and I Am So Over Feminism, where the author attacks and makes false claims about feminism and attacks women in general. This article is completely false in information and offends women (as in many of your readers). What's worse is that Odyssey continues to share it for more shares and retweets, as I've seen it resurface dozens of times.

I know that feminism is a controversial issue, but as a platform, do you even have a stance? Many websites and companies take stances on issues like women's rights/LBGTQ rights, and while you specifically don't *HAVE* to, it might help, especially because I would like to know exactly who/what I am writing for. If the Odyssey creators and teams are collectively against feminism or LGBTQ issues, that would be a deal breaker for me. If the website is not willing to publicly take a stance that is your prerogative, but there needs to be designated fact checking going on.

Most articles are opinion based, which I LOVE, but the ones that take opinions too far and make ridiculous claims shouldn't be published. I love the open debate and vast differing opinions writers have, when it is appropriately written. I don't know about other writers, but I am proud of my work and want to be taken seriously. Sometimes I come across an article that makes me embarrassed to write for you.

The website is not taken seriously by millions of people, solely because articles are not fact checked. Scroll through your Facebook comments, almost every article with any type of "facts" can be disputed.

Another recent article that fueled up some fire is, Stop Calling Your Drug Addiction A Disease. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, it is a disease, so NOTHING about this article is factual, it is an attack on those addicted to drugs. Although other writers have written in response to this with actual facts, the original article makes the Odyssey and its writers look terrible. Also, sharing the original article and then articles attacking it looks hypocritical.

There are dozens of other examples of inaccurate articles (mainly political based) that anyone can easily access on the website, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Just read the comments too, where our writers are called out. We are not taken seriously anymore.

I think that the Odyssey needs to decide what type of website it is going to be, what is going to support/not support, and seriously consider making a change.

From,

A Frustrated Writer