What can I do about "HITs expiring"

Discussion in 'General' started by TheBlueCow, Nov 30, 2012.

  1. TheBlueCow

    TheBlueCow New Member

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    (Yeah, I'm new - be kind please.)

    I've already Googled, and looked through the MTurk site help (boy that isn't much, is it) and Forum here, but didn't see something that would guide me...

    Several times I've accepted HITs, gone to work on them in a separate tab, then when I went back to the original "accepting" tab to input my required survey -or whatever-code for completion and to hit Submit - I am dismayed to see only the regular listings, and a error message "This HIT has expired"

    What!! I used Accept Hit, I had no problems in working on the HIT itself...did I simply take too long? (that couldn't be, I know the "timer" could not have run out that quickly.)

    So, did I just work for nada? What does it mean? Any way around it?
     
  2. swiftkick

    swiftkick User

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    There is a timer at the top of the HIT than begins once you have accepted the HIT. The timers could be any length, it depends on the HIT.

    If the HIT increases your abandoned HIT rate, then you probably accepted the HIT and ran out of time.
    If the HIT does not increase your abandoned HIT rate, than you didn't accept the HIT.

    Besides the internal timer, HITs also have an expiry date that determines how long they will stay posted on mTurk. If the total lifespan of a HIT expires while you are working on it, I *think* it will expire even though you may still have time on the timer. This could happen if you sort your hits by Expiration Date (soonest first) when choosing HITs.
     
  3. pwt

    pwt User

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    Yes.

    You know it didn't, or you think it didn't? Some surveys have unreasonably short expiration times.

    Don't accept so much work at once and keep a closer eye on the timers.
     
  4. Cowfin

    Cowfin Community Manager
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    It is also possible that your computer's clock is wrong, changing the amount of time left on the timer. Sync your clock up to any internet time service, and see if that fixes the problem.

    Welcome to the forum by the way!
     
  5. Neona

    Neona User

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    I agree with Cowfin check your clock. I had hits expiring in a minute or two after I accepted them because my clock was wrong.
     
  6. Neona

    Neona User

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    BTW if you complete a survey and get the code, email the requester and give them the code and tell them the hit expired before you finished - sometimes they will still pay you for the hit.

    Also some hits have an unreasonable expectation - even if the hit only takes a couple of minutes to do, I don't want the timer to clock me out at 5min - what if my phone rang or I had to answer the door before I could complete the hit? So I refuse to do hits that don't give me at least 15 min before they expire.
     
  7. 2muchTurkin

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    Extremely good advise. Always pay close attention to the hit allowed timer. Quite often new requesters put reducilous timers on their hits. Also there is well known bug on mturk where the timer starts at 30 secs or even higher right when you accept the hit. Best I can say is pay close attention to these factors when accepting hits and it should reduce your chances of getting expired hits hindering your ratings. Good juck and happy Turking!
     
  8. Meg9

    Meg9 User

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    I tried to do one hit that had a 2 minute timer on it. With 3 different pieces of data that they wanted, including checking a receipt to see if there were more than 50 purchased items, I ran out of time.
    I don't know why anyone would set such a low timer, but sometimes they do.
     
  9. abrahamrohithroy

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    It's not a bug anymore 2muchTurkin. We've figured out what's causing that. Cowfin already gave one method to solve OP's issue. If the HIT is starting at 30 seconds right when you're accepting it, set the PC clock exactly 30 seconds back. From the next HIT on, it'll start at 00:00.
     
  10. hobomatic

    hobomatic Member

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    There are 3 main reasons I can think of:

    1. Inexperienced resquester trying to approximate the time required too closely
    2. Frugal requester trying to minimize the amount 'unavailable' hits by minimizing the amount of time a given hit can be occupied
    3. Abusive survey requesters who are satisfied with incomplete work, and have no intent of paying for the hit.

    In general, if the time for a survey hit is under 10 minutes, and they request demographic information upfront, I get really suspicious. I think it is usually just poor judgement though, not malice.
     
    #10 hobomatic, Dec 3, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 3, 2012

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