I've hired from Upwork quite a bit, and I think the problem is that the clients have excessive power and abuse the freelancers/agencies. The platforms typically side with clients in financial disputes, and clients know how damaging a negative review is, so they force the agencies/contractors to do work beyond the contract. The result is that the talented agencies leave the platform as soon as they're successful enough to leave. The result is that the quality of agencies/contractors on Upwork is lower than what you can find outside the platform.
I understand. Good point. This indeed creates a bit of a problem. I might have not needed any work above Upwork level. However I still would avoid scenarios where agencies don’t have enough skin in the game, you said something along those lines in your article anyway.
I've hired from Upwork quite a bit, and I think the problem is that the clients have excessive power and abuse the freelancers/agencies. The platforms typically side with clients in financial disputes, and clients know how damaging a negative review is, so they force the agencies/contractors to do work beyond the contract. The result is that the talented agencies leave the platform as soon as they're successful enough to leave. The result is that the quality of agencies/contractors on Upwork is lower than what you can find outside the platform.