OH MY!!
See, this is EXACTLY what is keeping me from applying to DS. The editor horror stories, the endless reference citing, and then, all that work for naught. For crying out loud, it's a HOW TO (I assume) article on the freakin' internet, not a dissertation!
And for only $15 (or nothing, in your case...omg! yikes). I want to apply there because I probably could end up paying off my car within a few months, but I just don't know. $15 really isn't that much for all the work that goes into it. Today, I churned out a $4 C4C on AC in about 10 minutes...not bad, IMO. Plus, as I understand it, for most DS articles, you do not get the PV royalties. Some of my cheesy AC articles have made me way over $15 in pv's alone.
To put it into even more perspective, I sold a $60 article on Constant Content over the weekend. An article that took me maybe 40 minutes to write and research (which was easy because it was a "fluffy/non serious" topic, if that makes any sense). Yes, you deal with an editor, but they're not as picky as long as you use good grammar, follow the formatting, and write clearly. You don't need to cite references (perhaps you do with medical or scientific articles, but I don't write those).
I want to apply but...ugh. I don't know if I have the patience to deal with someone picking apart my writing like that. It'd be a blow to my ego, LOL