Code White US - Anyone write for them?

Discussion in 'Requesters' started by AmieW, Dec 4, 2012.

  1. AmieW

    AmieW Active Member

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    I was curious, so I looked at one of their hits. I can write fast on topics I know, so I figured $2.50 isn't too bad for a quick article I can do in 10 or 15 minutes. The instructions were so harsh, though! Lots of all caps yelling stuff, like they expect EXPERT writing for $2.50 per 500 words. I don't know if I want to write for them or not. Seems this requester is going to be very hard to please.
     
  2. naturegirl

    naturegirl User

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    You should definitely check their TO. It's worth the read for the entertainment value alone. :)

    Kinda sounds like you're Turking without TO, and if that's the case, you should remedy that immediately. It's free and defined in the Resources forum, if you've never heard of it.
     
  3. ewd76

    ewd76 User

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    Apparently he rejected an article within 10 minutes.
     
  4. AmieW

    AmieW Active Member

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    O.K., I figured out TO and read the reviews. Why on earth hasn't MTurk banned this person by now? People need to be putting some of the text of their articles on Google alert to see if they show up as published, then send them a DMCA take-down order. I can't believe MTurk lets them even put up hits.
     
    #4 AmieW, Dec 4, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 4, 2012
  5. AmieW

    AmieW Active Member

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    OMG! I just read thsi one...HILARIOUS! Please delete if we are not allowed to repost from TO.
    " These are lies and impunity of lower cast people. I have had much great success in working for this fine company. Insubordination breeds lackadaisical infidels that smite the good name of this great company."
     
  6. Andy

    Andy Administrator
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    I am co-founder for CW US and can tell you that half of the TO results are trolls. People posted there as if they are actually employees of ours etc. take it with a grain of salt. We NEVER use rejected work and have paid tens of thousands of dollars to mturk workers, that is why we are still allowed to be a requester, because while you may not see how many articles we accept and pay out, amazon is able to.

    JUST FYI this is the type of stuff we get on a daily basis (one of our team-members informed me we got this today..):

    i love life . i enjoy life i enjoy stydt
    i get up early in the morning . i go to the gardn .i take exercise
    i like go sex with my girl friend she is very beautiful. she islovely.
    i like to walk my friend. she is lovely and beautiful.
     
    #6 Andy, Dec 4, 2012
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2012
  7. AmieW

    AmieW Active Member

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    Well, that's all well and good, but the people I saw complaining had evidently been writing for you and getting accepted, then suddenly started getting rejected and finding their work had been published. How do you explain so many of those? I highly doubt that most of those were fake.

    No doubt at the price you pay for a 500 word article, you will get crap. Maybe you should give a short writing test before you accept work, like some others do. IMHO, If you weren't as bad as they say, you would have many more positive reviews from people taking up for you. Better writers aren't going to take the chance.

    I guess what bothered me the most was the reports of non-responsiveness. These people seemed to have a good command of the English language, and should be at least given a reason why their work was suddenly being rejected.

    At any rate, even if half of them were trolls, that still leaves more than 2/3rds of the others who were telling the truth and those were all negative and saying the same things. And why are the trolls saying the same thing turkers on other sites are saying? Sorry, I won't take the chance. Sometimes, you just have to trust your gut.
     
  8. custerc

    custerc Member

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    I just wrote a post for them today that was rejected very quickly, with no feedback listed. I know I didn't fail Copyscape because (a) the piece was totally original and (b) I ran the Copyscape check myself after I saw it had been rejected, just to see if maybe that was the reason somehow. I can't imagine they had a problem with the writing; I'm a writer/editor for a living and have had articles published places like Forbes and Foreign Policy. (Yeah, I know...I use mTurk as a way to justify my needless impulse game purchases on Steam so that my actual income isn't affected every time a Steam Sale comes around; this way the wife doesn't get mad.)

    So, I have no idea what their issue was, but needless to say, I won't be writing for them again. I also have a copy of the article I submitted, so I'll be watching carefully to see whether or not that pops up on the internet. I'm actually kind of hoping it does; that would be an awful lot of fun.

    TL;DR Don't work with them. There are plenty of other writing HITs that pay as well or better; there's no reason to bother.
     
  9. Andy

    Andy Administrator
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    If you private message me the article you submitted I will tell you why it was rejected.

    We can't afford to pay any higher. Honestly, if we paid even a small percentage higher we would not be able to be in business.... it comes down...

    A) Work at this rate
    B) No work at all

    Margins are slim.
     
    #9 Andy, Dec 4, 2012
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2012
  10. custerc

    custerc Member

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    Done................
     
  11. Andy

    Andy Administrator
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    At first glance, I cannot tell why this one was rejected. It meets the word count, it focuses on the article topic, and it passes copyscape.

    I am having our operations guy check on it for you and I will post here with the results. We also have a bucket for "completed articles" that go out to the client and the article is not in that batch, so it was fully rejected - we did not save the article to the bucket. Hope to get back to you soon about this.
     
  12. custerc

    custerc Member

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    OK, thanks.
     
  13. Andy

    Andy Administrator
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    It was rejected because it was a review and it focused on some negative aspects. We forgot to include in the instructions that it should be a positive review of the company. So, I will reverse this rejection in the next 72 hours due to our error. Sorry about that.

    Just a heads up, many of our clients ask for reviews so that they can direct visitors to an affiliate link of the hosting company, so negatives aren't good. But yes, we forgot to put that in the instructions.
     
    #13 Andy, Dec 5, 2012
    Last edited: Dec 5, 2012
  14. custerc

    custerc Member

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    Ok, thanks
     
  15. AmieW

    AmieW Active Member

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    So you want dishonest reviews, even if what is being reviewed sucks? Who are your clients, black hatters?
     
  16. Andy

    Andy Administrator
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    Mostly internet marketers. Welcome to the world of commerce.
     
    #16 Andy, Dec 6, 2012
    Last edited: Dec 6, 2012
  17. wonkatonka

    wonkatonka User

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    Andy hit the nail on the head. Sadly the entire business world works like that. I haven't done any of Andy's HITs before, but they don't read like what he would do. About a month ago I came across an old thread in which Andy stated several ex members of this forum or of a competing forum often sign up here just to troll. I wouldn't be surprised if those same people did everything in their power to troll his TO as well. I've had a few private conversations with Andy and he's a nice guy.
     
  18. AmieW

    AmieW Active Member

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    I'm sure he is a nice guy in his personal life, and people do what they have to do to make a living. I have an overabundance of integrity, I guess. I could make a lot more money if I were willing to write for black hatters and give them what they want. I had one guy who was going to pay me big bucks for rewriting every article on a site he wanted to copy. Nuh-uh. When times were hard, I've thought about black hatting, but I never did it.

    Still, I don't have a right to judge what someone chooses to do to put food on their table. You have to do what you have to do to survive in this economy. I just can't do fake reviews, because I keep thinking of the people who read those reviews and buy products that are horrible. I remember reading about some guy who got arrested for doing this, but before he did, he made millions of dollars having people write fake reviews for lousy products.

    Luckily, most marketers online aren't dishonest, and I've learned to recognize the thieves a mile away. I very rarely get taken, but can't say never.
     
  19. AmieW

    AmieW Active Member

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    Luckily, not all marketers are like that.
     
  20. custerc

    custerc Member

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    ...still listed as rejected...
     

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