new program: mturk tray

Discussion in 'General' started by jft222, Apr 2, 2013.

  1. jft222

    jft222 User

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    I have written a Windows program to help turkers work more efficiently. This took me about 2-3 weeks to write, test, and debug. I think it is now ready for general use. I created a YouTube video so you can see how the program works. Please try it out and let me know what you think. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

    mturk tray website
    Youtube video demo


    Features
    Easily copy your mturk ID into surveys

    See which hits are assigned to you. A notification will appear for assigned HITs that are about to expire.

    Keep tabs on your 10 most favorite requesters or HITs. A notification will appear as soon as these HITs become available.

    Share great HITs with others by easily converting a HIT into a forum (mturkforum) friendly format. The forum entry will color coded keywords and qualifications. Instead of the TO being linked, it will be included.
     
  2. Andy

    Andy Administrator
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    Thanks for making that video.
     
  3. mom1982

    mom1982 User

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    Thank you. I am looking forward to trying it.
     
  4. bonnieblue

    bonnieblue User

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    Thanks very much for the program...I look forward to trying it. I do have a possibly silly question though. Can I be logged into Mturk in two browsers at the same time? I thought (for some reason) that was against Amazon's rules(?).
     
  5. jft222

    jft222 User

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    I can't give you an authoritative answer to this other than to say I have done it without any issues. I don't think you are allowed to be logged into mturk from 2 different IP address (aka locations) at the same time, but I think you can use multiple browsers on the same system.

    -John
     
  6. bonnieblue

    bonnieblue User

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    Thanks John. As I said it was probably a silly question since you wouldn't have written the program to use IE alongside our choice browser if there would be a conflict but I tend to triple check things before I jump in.
     
  7. tcgirl

    tcgirl User

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    I've logged onto mturk with multiple browsers on multiple computers using separate IP addresses with no problems. Every time Delf batches show up I use 2 computers on 2 different IP addresses. I haven't had any problems.
     
  8. ubergrad

    ubergrad User

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    Hey John,

    thanks for making this program! I used it out tonight while working through a few batches. I did the auto-approval reload trick for the first time, so it was excellent to have a list of all my assigned hits on the desktop. I also added some of my favorite requesters and that feature seems to work well! A few questions: does changing check_hits_time in the config document change the time that the app checks for requester updates or also for assigned hits and expiration times?

    The app crashed a few times when I was working on lots of HITs, but overall I think it's excellent. Great work :).
     
  9. jubin

    jubin User

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    Source code


    I just went through the youtube video..its really a nice application. Can you please share the source code?
     
  10. jft222

    jft222 User

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    My apologies for not replying sooner, but I have been busy working on a better version that should address some of the crashes. I am about to post a change log to the end of this thread. Please try the new version.

    Modifying check_hits_time controls how often:
    1) favorite HITs are checked for
    2) # of assigned hits
    3) if an assigned HITs is about to expire
     
  11. jft222

    jft222 User

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    I have just created version 1.22 available from http://mturktools.com/mturk_tray.php

    Changes:

    • there is now 40 favorite hits instead of 15
    • you can now delay checking for a favorite hit until a given future date
    • recent favorite hits will be listed in green on the Favorite HITs window, < 15 min
    • posting a HIT to a forum has been completlely revamped and should now be much more reliable
    • a new program version is checked for from the website upon launch
    • the message input on the About windows now correctly word wraps
    • known issue: the Assigned HITs functionalty is still sporadically buggy and is being worked on
     
  12. tawalu

    tawalu User

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    It should be noted that the program is loading adfly links in the background as well. There is a very small disclaimer to that effect on the webpage, but I only found out after looking through my IE web history.

    Not too happy to find that out. I know in the past adfly has had issues with serving malicious content in their ads.
     
  13. jft222

    jft222 User

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    OP here. I have never heard of them serving up malicious ads. I am a fairly new adf.ly user and simply got the idea from HWTF. I thought it was a good idea to help defray hosting hosts. Is the general concensus that adf.ly is bad, buy other advertising OK? I am fine ditching it, if it is going to stop users from running the program. Would you be OK with another form of ads? I am open to suggestions. Would Google Adsense be aceptable? Do you think a Paypal Donate link would be better?

    As far as 'small disclaimer', I think this is a bit unfair. The text font size is no different than anything else on the page. To me, I feel like this is clearly stated on the web site. I never intended to mislead anyone. But I would like to hear from a few others on this subject.

    -John
     
    #13 jft222, Apr 20, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 21, 2013
  14. tawalu

    tawalu User

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    I wasn't intending any offense with my post, I was just a little upset that your original post here didn't mention the adf.ly bit and I only discovered it after seeing my IE browser history.

    One of the issues with the way the program is using adf.ly is that is actually going against their TOS. adf.ly links are only supposed to be used to redirect people to sites they requested. For example, if when the user clicked the browser button it sent them through adf.ly to take them to the HIT results page that would be acceptable in the TOS. Instead it serves links to random content the user didn't request, twitter, WSJ, reddit, etc. There's also some other bits there in the TOS it violates.

    I completely understand trying to recoup costs. Using adsense on your website, or having the download link going through adf.ly, or a donate button are all acceptable. My main issue is just that the program is loading ads in the background without any real indication of what is happening. The program once downloaded also doesn't cost you any money other than with updates. I'm not sure there needs to be a constant source of money from the program once the user has it.

    I also don't know how the invisible IE windows are being closed out or handled, and that makes me a little uncomfortable that links to unknown sites are loading in the background.
     
  15. Andy

    Andy Administrator
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    This almost seems like "Adware"...
     
  16. jft222

    jft222 User

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    This is really not my intention. I will make some changes and post a new version.
     
  17. Andy

    Andy Administrator
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    Thanks for your quick response to the feedback provided here.

    :)
     
  18. Musical_life

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    This sounds like a good program to have, any chance of a Linux version coming out?
     
  19. jft222

    jft222 User

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    No. The programming language is very specific to Windows.
     
  20. jft222

    jft222 User

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    With version 1.28, am happy to announce:

    Adfly ads have been 100% removed.

    In it's place is a Paypal donation link.

    I have:

    1) sent an email to users explaining the situation asking them to upgrade, along with the URL link to the thread
    2) completely removed the adfly ad components from the source code

    I really like the program and find it very helpful. It is my hopes that others will think the same and also like using it.

    http://mturktools.com/mturk_tray.php

    -John
     
    #20 jft222, Apr 21, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 21, 2013

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