> Getting contract work online should be a last resort.
I obviously totally misunderstood this initial statement of yours somehow.
For what it's worth I just wanted to share my experiences. It's absolutely possible that I'm the only person who saw these problems and everybody else is having a positively marvelous time - that's why it's called anecdotal evidence. If that's true: sorry, I didn't want to give the wrong impression.
Dipping your toe in the water and exclaiming how it's so awful isn't constructive and just unnerves other people.