I disagree with the whole article

learning how to write propperly the chinese characterw is both a useles and labourious process

I do not mind if advertorials are included in the Discussions, rather than being shuffled off to a separate Promotions section of Italki. I say this for two reasons, but with two conditions.

First, if there was a separate Promotions section, I would never go there.  Few people would.  Yet this separation might cause me to miss a truly helpful website, or book, or app.  So I'd happily accept nine useless advertorials in Discussions if I then found one that truly benefited me.

Second, having a separate Promotions section would introduce too much of a grey area.  Some tutors on Italki post links to their YouTube videos, with the ultimate hope that a handful of viewers will become students.  Is that really any different from gaojian posting a link to Skritter, which is free to try, with the ultimate hope that a handful of users will become subscribers?

To my mind, it is okay for advertorials to be within Discussions, but with two conditions.  The advertorials must be clearly marked as such, both in the listing and in the article itself.  The advertorial must also honour the "tutorial" part of the word "advertorial"—there must be some benefit that is available for free.

That's my two cents, and worth about as much.  Now let's talk about my $15.

I downloaded Skritter a while ago, because someone else on Italki seemed to like it.  It's an okay app—not bad, but a long way from good.  Yet it was just helpful enough that, when my seven-day trial period ended, I considered buying it.  That consideration lasted until I saw the price.  $15 a month!  $180 each year!?  There is nothing about Skritter that justifies its price.  Skritter could only ever represent a sliver of a learner's resources, so its cost is completely disproportionate to its utility.

Well, if the app works well and Italki has a business deal with Skritter, sure is better than having pop-up menus! I think I would prefer an advertising section that we can choose to access on our own on Italki with deals and honest reviews so that an advertisement doesn't try to fit itself into the format of a teacher tutorial on a subject. Then one wouldn't be expecting to learn something new (except having a product introduced).

We all now know that there's an offer on the table to use this software for free for 7 days and get half off each month after that as members of Italki. Again, it would be better not to try to fit such things into an area where advertising is not expected, although it makes perfect sense that Italki would choose to have such relationships and they can actually benefit the students. The author had to attempt to make the tutorial seem like one whereas pictures of the software interface and more details about the product would have actually been more useful. 

Flash cards are not difficult to make even in the thousands. I have about 5,000 now for Spanish. You make them as you go along and just put them in different piles for the repetition periods. If this software works better for some, like Anki does for some people, and it corrects your writing well and efficiently... it might be a good thing for some people. 

I think that advertisements and discounts should not be tried to be "snuck in" but proudly presented in a separate manner or section. Italki is a business afterall. I appreciate that Italki has offered me so much here for free so I do not resent when things are promoted for the benefit of those who have provided us with so much value. I'd just prefer if it were done with a little more finesse and and in its own section.  

I disagree with Sam!  Writing characters is one of my favorite parts about learning Chinese.  It adds a kinetic aspect to learning and as a very visual person, it helps me to know the characters that I'm saying when I talk.  Besides that, being able to discuss and identify characters makes it much easier when I talk with Chinese people.

Well said, HLRN.

And I strongly disagree with the majority of what Robert said. I can't beleive anyone with a decent level in either Japanese or Chinese would so whole-heartedly agree with the incredibly narrow-minded, dumbed down assertions that are made in the articles. 

I wish I knew this discussion was going to continue; I would have posted here instead. But I already wrote this earlier:

http://polydog.org/index.php?threads/dumbing-down-the-writing-of-chinese-characters.304/