If you ever harbor any doubts whether a business is legit or an ongoing concern, one way to quickly discover if anybody had bad dealings with the concern would be to conduct a simple Web search. You could Google such entries as the firm’s name followed by one or both of the words “complaint” or “scam” and after a few hits, you should get a general idea of what the company is about.

Another means might be reading a Better Business Bureau or some such check online. But the Web-search approach to me seems better because it is usually far more informative and less formal. If most or all of the testimonials or remarks on reputable weblogs, forums, or Web sites are negative concerning a certain business (or business plan), then a safe course of action would be not to do business with it, especially if there are other businesses that are generally accepted as being honest.

In the near future, I plan to run a few such quick checks on firms that purport to have work or gigs for freelance editors (and writers). In the past, I came across some that seemed to stretch the truth a bit or had contradictory or suspicious statements in their Linked-in profiles and their Web sites. Perhaps, other satisfied or disgruntled individuals may offer their own comments on those firms (or possibly another).

I will  post the checks of such firms in The good, the bad, and the ugly category and include links of others who either had dealings with the firms or have their own doubts without too terribly many editorials of my part. In other words, I’ll let others make their own observations or judgments in the various weblogs, forums, and Web sites. However, as is my wont, I may throw in a snide or snarky remark or comment along the way…