Amazon uses your email address, as who the message is from, any time you contact a requester. This is the same email as you use to log in. You can contact a requester by clicking on a requester name in the status detail for a day or by clicking the link 'Contact the Requester of this HIT' in the HIT results. So if you are telling a spammer on Mturk, they should not be posting the kinds of HITs they are posting, they might just use your email against your wish. They could take it and sell it as an active email account to other spammers, even if they never give you an answer. Because answering you, would give you their email address. So please just report bad requesters instead, and don't contact requesters who have HITs against the TOS on Mturk. It would be really nice if Amazon acted as a go between. That way neither party would end up knowing each others email address, unless it was freely given.
Would anyone be interested in a go-between service? I've given some thought to how one could be constructed on top of the existing contact system such that neither the worker nor the requester when replying would need to reveal their email address. It would also allow the worker to receive a read-receipt when the requester views their message, so if they view it but don't reply you'll know they're a jerk. :rolleyes:
I just tried sending a message without being logged in - doesn't work. The only thing I can think of is a forwarding email service. But then you'd have to log in with that address. So is your idea using a 3rd party to send the messages?
Yep. The third party could send a message explaining that a worker left a note via the contact service, and to please click an enclosed link to read it. The link would go to a website where the requester could reply without providing email. Not sure how well it would go over, though. Don't think Amazon would be crazy about it, and some requesters might not either.
Sort of like those emails saying you were "sent" a card As a majority of requesters never respond, how likely are they going to make the extra effort needed? And it's really going to confuse them, having one persons message saying they have a message from another person. You can tell not enough thought/time went into everything. It's like one day Amazon thought there has to be a cheaper way of doing this, and then decided to share it.
Yes, it would be confusing. MTurk was primarily designed for Amazon's own projects, with little thought given to making it usable for other people. The ability to contact requesters at all was probably thrown in last minute.
I say..do whatcha gotta do and take the heat! I WANT them to know who I am...I send them my website addy all the time so they can read about themselves and how awful they are
It's so easy to create email addresses specifically for this type of issue, so when someone get the address and you receive tons of spam, it's no big deal. I just filter them out and empty the folder daily. I would never use a main email address for anything associated with Mturk.
I guess I don't understand why you'd be emailing a "bad" requestor to essentially scold them. Isn't it more productive to flag them on turk and trash them on Turkopticon and the various forums online? I just don't think a random email or so from people would deter someone.
I believe contacting Requesters would benefit you, if you were polite in your communication and pointed out the discrepancy/error or low pay. It has worked in my favor and I have recieved bonuses for raising the issue, while the regular turkers were paid the fixed Hit reward.