Now I'm even more frustrated! I emailed Crowdsource, partially to reach out about my previous editing mistakes and to say I hope I will be given a chance to improve (just an attempt to reach out because I don't want my qualification revoked without warning, and I have 8 pending editing HITs that I know are going to be flagged/rejected), and partially to ask a question. The question was the bulk of the email, and it was regarding re-writing sentences in articles that use a lot of vague phrasing and what editors are expected to do if they remove a lot of filler (should they add something in or can they submit it under word limit, or what?). I want a concrete answer because "re-write half the article" seems ludicrous. Well, first I get a response asking for a HIT number. I explained there was no HIT number, I was asking a general question about the top tier editing HITs. Then I just got an email informing me that my qualification hasn't been revoked and I can still work on the HITs. It's like whoever answered skimmed three sentences and then responded. My question about editing was not answered. Sigh.
Well, it's been almost three weeks since they have freed me up to continue editing...I know they are backlogged, but three weeks? I've written and gotten the "hang in there" response, "we're working on it." Then they send an emailing alerting everyone that there are tons of a certain kind to edit and you can earn bonuses..that does me a heck of a lot of good if they are still backlogged on my past stuff....if I didn't need the money, I'd just quit putting up with their nonsense. Maybe this week???
I got this response from Ande: If the content is too generic, then use "One or more description(s) does not answer question presented in heading." to reject the article. Choose the rejection option that is closest to your reason for rejecting the article. If none of the options match your reason, then choose the best option and leave feedback stating the exact reason. I've also heard from Sam that you should use "Does not match category and/or keyword and cannot be fixed by editing title." if you find an article that does not have useful information and would require rewriting. I've rejected more articles than I've edited. I always include a paragraph with my rejection reasons and examples from the article. So far, I haven't gotten any negative feedback from doing that.
So, I clearly didn't "get" the General Overview and Buying Consideration Sections HITs since I had three rejections. I've only had 4 rejections on writing HITs so far, and I've been approved for 373 writing HITs. What's the likelihood that I would lose my writing qual over this, especially since I informed CS of their faulty examples?
I doubt you'll lose your qualification. At the very most, they may not let you do anymore General Overview etc. Hits, but I think you have to be rejected a lot more and across all types of writing Hits to lose the qualification.
Okay, I wrote Sam again today and she apologized and said they are still working on the backlog of editing and as soon as they are caught up, I can work again...LOL. It was nice of her to answer, though.
Oh my God, I want to scream just reading about that. I think you're right about the skimming. Actually I think it might be even worse than that. I saw a post on the Write.com forum by someone who emailed a few times with questions, and the response he eventually got began "Currently our write HITs are only available to Beta Top Tier Writers," despite the fact that his earlier emails opened with "I am one of your Beta Top Tier Writers." So absurd.
Does anyone write the 300-word review articles? I notice that there are a lot of those. I am a bit afraid to do them since I apparently screwed up the ****'S articles, and they seem to have a similar set up. Also, I hope they open up writing for non-beta writers soon. I am lucky enough to have that beta qual, but if I didn't, I would be screwed. I know there are some very upset people out there.
I haven't done any of the review articles, I've considered dipping my toes in, but just the fact that they sit there as long as they do makes me wary. On the other hand, I kind of like doing the links articles and those sit forever, too, so I don't know. They're doing bonuses for the general overview and expert advice articles right now, but I know just this side of nothing about any of the topics listed there. Plus I've heard nothing but bad things about doing those, so I think I'll continue to avoid them.
I did 4 of them and they have been pending for over a week - nothing seems to be approving very fast. They weren't too bad. The template is pretty easy to follow. Intro., 2 pros, 2 cons and a summary. I like that they have instructions now for each section - at least it shows what info. they are looking for. They say they will be adding more top tier writers a little at a time - whatever that means. I just wish they would get some decent titles to work on. And I really miss the callouts - I'm lucky to snag maybe one per day if my timing is right. I see they are offering a bonus for those Product Overview and Buying Consideration Hits, as well as the Expert Advice ones. I still have one pending, so not gonna touch those!
Just had one of those general overview hits that was pending approved. Feedback left by a fellow worker states "The general overview section must only contain the brands with the most products." Okay, I get it. However, the company ONLY carries one brand of the equipment I was writing about. One. And that's the one brand I mentioned in the general overview. And they wonder why we get frustrated. I wish we could feedback the feedback we get from editors. On the Sam issue, I think there is a Sammie who is female and a Sam who is male.
Most of the reviews are for addiction rehab facilities. The ones I looked at don't even have a website, so there's very little information to base the reviews on. That said, I haven't touched them, although I might recheck for any addictions facilities in my area.
Whoa, just got two callouts approved within two hours of submitting them. Is this a sign of faster approvals to come?
Kind of tired of the nit-picky editing. I think I like the old way of editing better. I wouldn't mind being able to reject absolutely horrible writing, but other than that, I don't think the writer should be docked for minor errors (even though I know technically we are not, but it still shows up as feedback). Also, as an editor, I feel badly when I mark "punctuation error" for one missing comma or whatever. I wonder how much stock CS is putting in those check-marked comments. Also, since when is "now" not evergreen?!? ("Eat it now or later.")
Amber, it's my understanding that the checklist is for after we've edited, so the punctuation should have been fixed by us. I have seen some horrific writing and would like to just be able to reject the whole thing back for a rewrite by the AUTHOR, not by the editor. I think CS has learned that if they add to many new writers at a time, they get a bad back-up going because everything needs to be checked (and that may be where they are log-jamming too) - editors checking editors checking editors. However, they have always been very nice to me when I've inquired about something. I think they are learning too how to handle all this.
I thought, as an editor, that that we were supposed to use the checklist after we edited, but I was informed by someone at CS that we are supposed to mark the checklist before we really begin editing. I was also told that if the same error keeps showing up, that gives CS a red flag. I'll just keep doing my best and see what happens. I sure don't turn in crap on purpose. LOL I think some do though based on the editing I've done.