Maybe this has been discussed already, but I'm new to MT and have come across a lot of requestors that require you to enter email addresses to confirm surveys have been completed (or for other tasks). Also, quite a few require that you download software. I've reported a few of these but I was wondering if this is actually tolerated behavior or not. Any thoughts?
Asking for emails is against the TOS. Downloading software is risky, you can get viruses, malware or some unknown stuff. I avoid these when I do surveys.
I'm newish too, but beyond my 10-day probation. I'd never download software, or anything. I'd skip it, no matter what it paid. Good luck.
I have a few "junk mail" email addresses but I'm still careful about giving out personal info. Even Junk addresses that I use regularly. I don't download any software but I will try out android apps and some chrome browser extensions but not on my primary phone or computer. It pays to be careful.
The only software I download is by 'Inquisit'. Many surveys use that - appears to be a quasi standard. It's just a java package, so it's not installed permanently. It unloads once the Survey is done.
Yeah, I second what awol said- I downloaded Inquisit b/c I noticed several survey's use that platform, but other than that, I wouldn't risk it. I have junk emails for some other freelance work I do, but in the short time I've been on MTurk, I've had only one survey ask me for an email address, and that was only b/c they wanted me to complete a potential follow up survey for a bonus. They were from a university, so I did it that time, but if it's not a university, I wouldn't. Requesters can contact you through MTurk without you having to expose it. And yeah, I noticed right off tonight two HITs that had normal survey type titles, and I accepted them, only to go to the link and find out it was one of those "get a $500 GC for completing this survey!" (when you complete 325 "sponsor offers" from each of our 965 levels!) deals. When I went back to return the HITS, the first one had already expired, so it kind of sucks- I have an abandoned and a return now, and I hate knowing that's on my rep. now for someone trying to scam people. I didn't realize a lot of that stuff when I first started on MT, b/c the other microjob gigs I did allowed it all- so it was kind of all new to me, but in the end, I've stuck with MT. They've always had the best paying jobs, in the greatest quantity, and when I transfer money to my bank, it takes about 24 hours- unbelievably fast compared to some other freelance stuff I do. Plus, while I know a Requester could just close shop and screw me, I do feel safer with MT than I do with other sites, b/c I feel like the others are all fly-by-night, and the whole thing could close and screw me out of my entire bank. I don't worry about that with Mturk, ya know? If it's a blatant violation, I report it- b/c i don't want someone newer than me to get scammed- but if you aren't sure, just come over here, there's so much info that I've found answers to on this site; it's made things a lot easier for me.