General Question Prior To Posting A New HIT

Discussion in 'Do My HIT!' started by Anonymous_Requester, Oct 19, 2012.

  1. Anonymous_Requester

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    We are about to post to mTurk a couple of separate but related HITs, but prior to doing so we are curious to know a couple of things from workers such as yourselves.


    So, how many of you here today find it acceptable to drink or do drugs while working on mTurk? This question is related somewhat indirectly to one of the larger tasks that we are in preparation to post, and it came up as an issue for us after reading on this forum a number of posts dealing with this issue.


    The next issue has to do with confidentiality. How many of you could agree to participate in a long running (say, over the course of 4-6 weeks) regular daily experiment, with the one major caveat that you cannot discuss the work with anyone else, ever? Is it even realistic for us to expect something like this?


    Regards,


    Suzanne
     
  2. saladpope

    saladpope User

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    Coffee is my drug :)

    But - in all seriousness - I make a lot of jokes about drugs and drug use, but I have not taken any drug (that has not been prescribed to me) in well over a year, and I stopped drinking sometime before that.
    I never really had abuse issues as such, I simply quit because I am on industrial strength antidepressants, and throwing booze and street drugs into the mix was making their effectiveness less than optimal - also, when the antidepressants are working right, I don't feel like I need to self-medicate :)

    W/R/T your second question, I could only assure you that there are some of us who are disciplined regarding the strictures attached to the work we do, and whose self-image is tangled up enough with the quality of our work that if we agree to do something we are going to do it right :)

    HTH.
     
  3. Anonymous_Requester

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    Okay, and thank you for your candor.

    Have you found that the anti-depressants help or hinder your ability to perform certain tasks? Anything in particular that you feel that you do better at while on those medications?
     
  4. somoore

    somoore Active Member

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    Any usage of drugs while working online or off is unacceptable!!PERIOD!!There have been many on here that have mentioned drug usage in the past which for me would raise red flags, specially if one is flaunting about it.

    I see nothing wrong with the use of a confidentiality agreement between a worker and requester. There are some cases where that agreement should be enforced, specially in "special task hits". I believe it saves the requester the headache of being overwhelmed by unwanted requests/ questions from outside sources other than the parties involved.
     
  5. Turkalicious

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    As much as I love vodka lol In all honesty I drink maybe once a week and it's one drink. [Yeah, I am a lightweight, one drink is more than enough.] When I have that one drink I'm not turking because I enjoy it when we're staying overnight at the in-laws for laundry and I don't Turk from there.

    As far as drugs.. no thanks. I haven't smoked pot in many, many years and have no desire to ever get back into the habit. If I did [which is a non-issue because I have a child to take care of] I can guarantee I wouldn't Turk because I wouldn't give a flip about Turking, I'd be far too lazy.

    Aside from that I agree with Saladpope - Caffeine is my drug of choice lol I might take a sleeping pill once a week for a decent night's sleep but that's the extent of it. I wouldn't attempt Turking while under the influence because I'm far too paranoid about rejections/blocks/etc.
     
  6. rock turker

    rock turker Active Member

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    Mostly we are addicted to drugs like coffee and tea to make our self active and fresh and Yeah there are many requesters are here who post frequently their batch hits and some even make qualification for certain workers to make batch completed by qualified users.
     
  7. mTurkMeister

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    Special conditions like a confidentiality agreement have to be rewarded with special considerations like a very high bonus. Perhaps paid in separate installments.

    As far as drugs and alcohol impairment, I have to wonder why so attention is paid to them and not to other kinds of performance impairment like mental exhaustion and poor physical condition?
     
  8. saladpope

    saladpope User

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    I suffer form Major Depressive Disorder so...live? I am effectively nonfunctional without them. On the bright side, I respond well to medication so most people who meet me casually would have no idea that I am not my friendly cheerful self without the assistance of SSRIs and SNRIs.
    I suspect that I am less creative when on medication, but this is as much a superstition as anything else. I know from years of working with doctors and specialists to get my pharmacological "cocktail" adjusted to best effect that different portions of my personality and different intellectual traits are highlighted on different medications, but I also know from experience that it is hard to be objective about it "from the inside" as it were.
     
  9. Anonymous_Requester

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    I don't know that any of our work 'has to' be rewarded with anything in particular, if you see my point. This is a work-for-hire arrangement, and if you don't agree with the terms, then you are certainly free to not participate. The arrogance and presumption in your statement is somewhat astounding, to be honest.

    As to your second comment, although that's a valid point, it has nothing to do with our research, and as such it's not a concern. What is a concern is that participants not be on drugs.


    Thank you for your response.
     
  10. Anonymous_Requester

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    Again, thank you for your response, it's very helpful to us.
     
  11. Anonymous_Requester

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    Thank you.

    You bring up an interesting point: if there was no possibility of getting rejected, would you behave any differently?
     
  12. saladpope

    saladpope User

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    Amen. There's always one.
    For myself? No. But as I think I previously mentioned, a lot of my self-image is kind of wrapped up with the concept of integrity so if I voluntarily agree to do something, I do it.
     
  13. Anonymous_Requester

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    The issue of integrity is also important, so thank you again for bringing that up, again. Something of a philosophical question (and a part of what we want to research), but the fact that you self-identify as an ethical person doesn't really help much, although it's very nice. Would you behave more ethically if you were paid more, or with less integrity if you were paid less than you expected? For example, would you rush through a survey and only partially read the questions if the survey only paid 10 cents, but do a better job if it paid 50 cents? Or would you choose to not participate at all if the compensation didn't meet your expectations?
     
  14. ewd76

    ewd76 User

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    I've never done drugs and hate the taste of alcohol, so I don't drink either.
     
  15. saladpope

    saladpope User

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    My relationship with employers has shown me that I certainly consider loyalty to be contingent on good treatment (in the case of an employer this almost invariably means acceptable compensation). I also consider my relationship with government in the same way: the benefits you are offering me have to be commensurate with the tangible and intangible benefits I am getting from you, else I start looking around.

    If I feel that I am being willfully under-compensated for something (i.e. taken advantage of), am I likely to behave with less than perfect integrity? Absolutely. In a situation like that, I feel that an implicit contract between myself and the other party has been violated and I would not feel any special need to treat them with any more respect than they are treating me.

    Hope that makes sense.
     
  16. naturegirl

    naturegirl User

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    Hello, and thank you for coming. I think well of requesters who prepare by seeking out Turkers to discuss their concerns with.

    If I choose to take on a task, it's because I've already assessed that you appear to be offering to pay me adequately for my usual good quality of work and attentiveness. The only reason that I would not follow through with my end would be if it appears to me that you are not following through with yours.

    Thus, quality of my work does not change based on your pay, provided that the pay is commensurate with the time and effort involved. If it isn't, then I won't accept your task in the first place. So how much it pays is not the issue, so much as whether the pay fits the task that you describe. A .10 task can be much more worth my while than a .50 task; it depends on what you're asking me to do in each.

    Whether I finish your task depends on whether it fits your description; bait-and-switch gets a return from me, every time. So, if I start a survey that says it pays $.50 and is stated to require 5 minutes of my time or less, then if it's still going on at 6 minutes, I'm annoyed, and I'll return it without bothering to finish. I entered into a deal and you didn't keep your end of it...so we're done.

    Even if I'm returning something because I feel misled, I will *not* answer the rest of the questions in a haphazard way just to get it finished and paid. I just won't do the rest. That requester may have "cheated" (if they intentionally misled me) to get my good work for the first 5 minutes, and that is all they will get. I will not retaliate by doing a crappy job on the rest. I'll just stop working and not ask to be paid.
     
  17. Moutheater

    Moutheater User

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    I give a job about 2-5 minutes more than they claim just to be on the safe side, any more than that, and I am not making adequate $/hr, and I will not waste any more time on a task. Time is money after all.

    As far as drugs and drinking--I'm pregnant! Hell no. The only medicines I take are prescribed to me. And they're not your business, nor up for discussion--your name is not printed on the bottles.

    But they don't impair me (unless you count stomach pain.)

    Confidentiality is no problem to me. I still haven't told anyone secrets I've been told in third grade... >_>;
     
    #17 Moutheater, Oct 19, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 19, 2012
  18. ash breaks stuff

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    What a waste of 5 minutes of my life I'll never get back. Thanks.
     
    #18 ash breaks stuff, Oct 19, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 19, 2012
  19. Turkalicious

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    Short, honest answer? Nope. Not in the least. Rejections = Lower approval rate. Approval rate determines the HITs we're able to complete. So no, I like my 99.7%. Even if they didn't affect approval rate no, why waste time doing something if you're not going to at least exert the effort to do it properly?
     
  20. Maggiemw

    Maggiemw User

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    I rarely get into this sort of discussion, but this "anonymous requester" is overstepping boundaries. I smell a troll.

    His (or her) unhealthy interest in the medication history of one of the posters, his (or her) accusing another poster of arrogance and presumption when the poster made a valid point...

    Red flags are waving in the air. Proceed with caution. Troll country.
     

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