Bitter experience with mTurk

Discussion in 'General' started by ataur.rahman1, Aug 14, 2010.

  1. justfight

    justfight User

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    I don't mind doing that but I can't find a way to upload a screenshot directly here. And I'm not willing to share it via flickr, photobucket, etc. public sites. If there's a way to upload a screenshot directly here (not via any other site), do let me know.
     
  2. matt_rameau

    matt_rameau New Member

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    Mturk is a great idea for the ones submitting tasks, but prices are just too low for workers. If you are looking for alternatives to mturk, you might want to have a look at a few alternatives:
    * http://www.fiverr.com/ At fiverr you can offer to do something for 5 USD
    * http://apps.facebook.com/little-favours facebook app for asking friends / someone to do you a favour
     
  3. Mr.B

    Mr.B Member

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    Well, I am working here for 2 Months and not facing any Problem, But my friends have same problem, Mturk has suspended their account, One of my friend lost $250, after that i withdraw my money after every $30, since its costly, But at last i get some money. In my opinion "Don't leave your money in Mturk Account withdraw it at time to time ".
     
  4. Atlongster

    Atlongster Active Member

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    I really hope people aren't looking to make a living at MTurk, b/c you can't. However it is a fairly easy way to make pocket change or enough to pay an impending credit card bill. You know what I mean.

    But it does suck how Amazon has very little help for us, even a super automatic self help section on our rights/responsibilities would be nice.
     
  5. Mr.B

    Mr.B Member

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    well said!!!!! Amazon don't support its worker.
     
  6. ennaira

    ennaira User

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    Well, Im not happy how many requesters pay. But Im glad I found mturk which is helping me to cover small expenses.
     
  7. sameerali05

    sameerali05 New Member

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    How can i get un-suspended with my account ?
     
  8. Turkalicious

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    My brain now hurts.
     
  9. Scott

    Scott User

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    Turkalicious - I was thinking that!

    My opinion is mturk is a good way for someone to pick up a few extra dollars, maybe help supplement an income to an household, pay for their book habit.

    I make under $100 a month doing this - Maybe working 1 hour a day, or do a hit during a commercial break while watching tv. This pays for a cell phone bill, water or power. So it helps to have a little extra money coming in.

    Better than getting a second job as I can work and quit when I want too.
     
  10. Turkalicious

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    Exactly! I think people go into this thinking 'oh gods I've found mturk now I'm going to make loads of money woohoo!'. They don't bother doing any research into anything or seek help from forums like this etc. When I first joined MTurk I didn't do a single HIT for almost my first week because there was SO much stuff to read and I didn't want to just jump in with both feet and start fucking things up left and right. Honestly with the numbers I have seen some people pulling in this 'COULD' be my main source of income, for myself personally I mean. To supplement the income my husband brings in. I don't think I will ever make numbers like some do [Playa, Whimsy, Booty, etc].. sure I would love to but honestly what I have been making since I started has been a great help. Sure there's shit requesters and Amazon is more in their favor than ours [what do you expect it's the requesters that bring them money not us LOL] but if you go into this seeing mturk for what it IS and not what you have deluded yourself into thinking it is... you'll do fine. [General 'you' by the way, I wasn't calling you specifically deluded Scott :)]
     
  11. Whimsy

    Whimsy User

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    thanks but i don't make squat here =) i use it to pay for my fees for hosting, email, etc - so essentially it's paying for me to find a way to not have to do it anymore
     
  12. SnowedIn

    SnowedIn Member

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    I'm beginning to suspicion: The more money you have built up in Mtur,k without transferring it over to your bank -- the greater the risk your account will be suspended. Just a thought.

    Probably to be on the safe side and to prevent this: Should your account be suspended, "Your remaining Prepaid HITS balance (if any) will become the property of Amazon Mechanical Turk" -- it's probably best to transfer your money over to your bank EVERY DAY. Notice, Mturk will only allow you to transfer your money to your bank once a day. I think the reason is because, should your account get suspended at any moment, the more chance Mturk has to grab any remaining money in your account.
     
  13. SnowedIn

    SnowedIn Member

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    I have noticed something about Amazon in general. I used to work in an Amazon.com fulfillment center (only on weekends, 12 hours/day) and the whole atmosphere was cold, rigid, otherworldy. I dreaded the sight of that place looming up on the horizon when I would drive to work on weekend. I grew to be REPULSED by the thought or sight of it. I felt like I was in a bad dream I couldn't wake up from for even the few hours I spent there. I got so heartsick one night I just simply walked out. I think I RAN out. I consider myself a pretty calm person but the place and the people in it (those in charge of the crew) were seriously giving me a panic attack. Almost like the nightmares I used to have about mannequins. Those cold, fiberglass THINGS whose eyes seemed to follow and stare coldly at you in department stores. The same is here on Mturk. It just feels soulless, mannequin-ish. I don't know, I can't describe it, but I can almost smell and feel the coldness of fiberglass mannequins. Call me crazy, I don't care. It's the best I can do to describe the atmosphere.
     
  14. SnowedIn

    SnowedIn Member

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    Just curious what the average balances were on accounts that were suspended. Maybe they wouldn't bother suspending an account that had zero or low balance. Just curious. Maybe a class-action lawsuit is in order.
     
  15. Josh13

    Josh13 User

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    guess sour grapes are only good for whine....
     
  16. Foucault

    Foucault User

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    I think it's wise to transfer your Amazon payments account regularly (I transfer in blocks of $5 every day - hey... I'm a bit anal-retentive!), but I only transfer from there to my bank account at the end of the week. While Amazon can hold onto your available balance in your MTurk account, once you transfer it to your Amazon payments account, it's yours, and Amazon are obliged to allow you to take it.
     
  17. SnowedIn

    SnowedIn Member

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    I'm not whining, lol. My account with Mturk is in good standing. Don't know how I came across this old thread but it looked interesting so thought I'd chime in.
     
  18. SnowedIn

    SnowedIn Member

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    That's good to know Foucault. I thought they could take the money in your Amazon payments account too.
     
  19. twirdman

    twirdman User

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    This fails the basic smell test. The very best turkers might earn 100k in a year, it is unlikely anyone earns a significant amount more then that. Even if you weren't to transfer for an entire year you are talking about 100k in comparison mturks 2014 revenues were 89 billion. So the best turker represents 36 seconds worth of amazons revenue. That is a year. The notion the one day thing is so they can still money is laughably absurd. I don't think I've seen many people make more then 1k in a day that represents about a third of a second to Amazon.

    No matter how much you make or how good at mturk you maybe there is no reason for Amazon to cancel your account to take that money. I mean even if they were to cancel a thousand super high level turkers account that for some reason hadn't cashed out in close to a year that would represent less then half a days revenue for Amazon. There aren't 1000 turkers making 100k a year and even if there were they aren't all leaving money in their account for 1 year.

    I mean maybe if you gather a significant amount of data showing that the account balance of turkers banned was significantly higher then those of unbanned people you could try and argue it but that data is almost assuredly non existent and the premise is almost certainly false.
     
  20. SnowedIn

    SnowedIn Member

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    $1000 a WEEK? Tell me how, please!
     

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