Crowdsource Top Tier Writing Hits

Discussion in 'Requesters' started by jbird7, Nov 2, 2012.

  1. TurkinGal

    TurkinGal User

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    Madhur, here is a link to the test that is being discussed.

    https://www.mturk.com/mturk/preview?groupId=2NPDAT2D5NQYTXEZWYAG9TYVUKW371

    You cannot obtain the top tier writing qualification without accepting, submitting and having this HIT approved by the editors at Crowdsource.
     
  2. Crayonshaver

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    I have the qualification. I can only do about a 2 a day. Of the 20 I've done, I've gotten feedback on about 5 and all of them have been beneficial. "Be careful about writing in future tense", "pay closer attention to the instructions on the headers," or the one from today "be careful about overly wordy sentences that may cause readability problems" and they gave me the sentence, which was way too long. I think they've been dead on each time, to be honest.
     
  3. atariguy

    atariguy New Member

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    I have the qualification, and have written several articles, all of which were approved fairly quickly (although I did get some constructive feedback on a couple of them). However, I did one on Saturday that still has not been approved, and that worries me enough that I haven't spent any time since then doing any more.

    I'm curious as to whether they've been approving anyone else's writing since Saturday?
     
  4. Nikki

    Nikki TOTM

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    Once you submit the qualification, how long does it find out to take it you get it?
     
  5. Crayonshaver

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    I've had several, but I've noticed that different types approve differently. Also, the only comments I've gotten were on the 6-steps HITS. I think different people are responsible for each kind and so the feedback and timing varies. Try to get one in now because they are paying bonuses.
     
  6. Crayonshaver

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    I think it was about a week before they told me I got the bonus for the HIT, but then it took a couple more for them to fully review. Some people get the bonus but don't actually get the qualification. I think the Qual submission goes through several reviews.
     
  7. naturegirl

    naturegirl User

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    Hey, folks,

    Was talking to another Top Tier person recently and thought maybe I should mention this in general, so everyone knows:

    Even when you have the TT qual, if you try to accept one of the HITs that require it and the HIT message becomes, "Sorry, you are not eligible for this project," that means CS has removed you from that specific job type. They haven't pulled your overall qual, but it is not a cap that will be fixed by the next day. They have decided they don't want you doing those, and unless they change their minds on that (not likely without you asking them directly), that's it for you and that HIT type.

    You can try writing them to ask about the situation. They sometimes do lift the task-specific restriction and even get back to you about it. But not always.
     
  8. Crayonshaver

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    I got an email from CS yesterday and they mentioned that they often post information on TurkerNation and CloudMeBaby. I wonder why they don't post here?
     
  9. naturegirl

    naturegirl User

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    I saw that, too. I know that both those forums' admins actively solicit requesters to come. I don't know if that's done here. If not, it wouldn't hurt! And surely we members could try inviting them as well.
     
  10. Andy

    Andy Administrator
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    CS is aware of this place. They have emailed before and asked me to fix the capitalization stylization on their requester forum. Don't think they have an account though, but they don't really need one to view te comments and feedback ;)
     
  11. Crayonshaver

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    Naturegirl - do you do all of the CS writing? I've stuck mainly to Do's and Don'ts and Step-by-Steps. I've looked at the list ones, and every HIT I've seen, I've gotten to the point where I don't know if my lists are relevant. Do you do those?
     
  12. naturegirl

    naturegirl User

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    Hiya,

    Allow me first to say that your handle always makes me smile, so thanks for that! :)

    Actually, my favorites are the list ones, with the runner-up being the Do's and Don'ts and my least favorite being the Step-by-Steps. It's funny how that works out, so I suppose it's good that they have the two of us, and whatever other variety of writing preferences they have from other Top Tier folks!

    For me, when I'm researching a topic I don't know much about (true about many of the CS articles, actually---would love to write on travel but have you seen any? yeah, not so much), it's easier to put what I find into list form and not have to think about a logical order (steps). That's why my order of preference.

    Lately, I've noticed that the quality of writing coming through (when I read others' articles, as when writing article highlights) has continually gotten better. So their pickiness is paying off! I've really enjoyed reading some of those articles recently, actually. Been pleased they have a reasonably generous timer on the work, so I can. :) It's also good to see what someone else did with the articles I didn't want to try my hand at. I'm usually impressed.

    ETA: I put in a request to forum admins to merge this thread with the one that someone just started in the CS subforum...and, thanks, admins!
     
    #32 naturegirl, Nov 21, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 23, 2012
  13. AmieW

    AmieW Active Member

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    CrowdSource Top Tier

    Anyone find their hit system annoying? One category said 100 hits, and I clicked about 50 times and all I could get were the same old hits I didn't want before. Some kept coming up multiple times. I wasted a lot of time just looking for hits.

    I wonder if this is something they always do? I heard CrowdSource has a bad reputation on MTurk, but at first, this Top Tier thing was great. They paid well and lots of hits available. There are still a good number of hits available, you just can't get to them. Another TT writer said she wrote to them and they said they front load the unwritten hits so everyone sees them, but I don't need to see them multiple times.

    Is this just an MTurk problem, or is CS doing this on purpose?
     
  14. naturegirl

    naturegirl User

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    Hi, AmieW.

    I'm surprised you think CS has a bad reputation on MTurk. I wonder if you're confusing them with another similar-sounding requester, or maybe I just haven't heard all the dirt! I've been happy writing Top Tier and still am.

    The best answer I can give you about why Skip works this way was one that I gave in response to this post, and I think you might find it interesting to read the blog post I link to there as well.
     
    #34 naturegirl, Nov 23, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 23, 2012
  15. AmieW

    AmieW Active Member

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    I just wish there was an ignore button, so we didn't see the same hits over and over and over. It's just too time consuming for some people. I'm going to try to do a cost-benefit analysis, but if I'm making less than I want per hour due to this repeat of hits I've already skipped 5 times, I won't write for them anymore. It would just be so much simpler if they had all the hits listed with accept buttons next to them, so we could pick the ones we want and leave the rest. It's a good program, don't get me wrong, but for those of us who have other gigs that pay better and aren't quite as big a pain, just not worth it. When they first started, and I could find hits easily, I was making $20-22 an hour, but now it's down to $15 because of the time it takes to find hits I can write. That's about the limit of what I will work for. I think for people who don't have to make a certain amount per week, it's great, but for people who do it for a living...not so great.

    Because I'm self-employed, I have to make 30% more than I need, and less than $15 an hour just doesn't get me there. It's my choice, though, like every job I take. It's the life of a freelancer.
     
  16. AmieW

    AmieW Active Member

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    Yes, the client seems to be very pleased with the quality, which is great. I haven't gotten any rejections or rewrite requests yet.
     
  17. naturegirl

    naturegirl User

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    I don't think CS has a bad rep, as I said, but I agree with you that the interface blows for what writing is like. Then again, it's the only possible interface they have when they work through Turk. There is one thing they could try, however...

    It's something that certain transcription requesters do: they split jobs up so that there are very few per batch. This means they have hundreds of HIT batches out, instead of CS's method of a few batches with lots of HITs each. It minimizes the need for the Skip button. CS would be well-served in doing this, or perhaps just creating an internal list (we all have logins to their site, right?) that would list the HITs by article title.

    If I had more faith that CS is able to respond to our requests in a flexible way, I'd write them myself to mention it. Perhaps someone with more energy for that than I will!

    Your cost-benefit analysis sounds like an interesting plan, although it sounds to me that you've already established what you hope it would tell you.

    Agreed. But they don't reject. :) They pay on even the ones they don't want, just soft-block you from whichever types of the writing assignments they no longer want you working on. Also, they don't give the option to rewrite, not as far as I've heard. Just some other ways in which they run this very differently than freelance writing is done off-Turk.
     
  18. AmieW

    AmieW Active Member

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    I haven't written to them, but someone I know has, and she got a reply that just said they would look into it going forward. I didn't know about the blocking. That's sort of unfair. I haven't been blocked from anything yet, I don't think. How do you know if you're blocked? Does it happen when you try to view hits or when you try to claim one?
     
  19. naturegirl

    naturegirl User

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    Exactly. *shrug*

    I wrote a post to help people figure this out, in this same thread. Previous page, perhaps?
     
  20. naturegirl

    naturegirl User

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    Just saw that now CS has .15 HITs for Top Tier folks to review 5 pairs of article titles.

    I'm surprised at the low pay compared with other Top Tier tasks. What do you guys think?
     

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