I just came across a HIT that I could easily do, but refuse to on moral principle. It made me wonder if anyone else does the same? The one I refuse to do is to write a 200 article to promote a web site that provides pay day loans in the UK. To my mind, these people are no better than loan sharks, their interest rates are usually eye-popping and I would actively tell people never to use such a service. That makes me feel unable to write the article. Anyone else stand on their principles or do you do the work and suck up the bad feelings?
I won't do time-filler HITs for checking to see if something violates terms of service (looking for porn). I read too many horror stories of what people did come across and I'd just rather not. At the same time, I'll describe porn for money. I don't rewrite for articles that are too technical. I don't rewrite puff pieces that make a company appear to be doing good things for the environment. I think they're lying. I will transcribe political speeches. I can't say I stand on any moral ground consistently, just when it suits me.
- I won't do anything that I can't see myself making close to minimum wage on, particularly when the requester doesn't think we can do math. Five cent surveys that last ten minutes- why YES, Mr. Requester, I'd be PERFECTLY happy to make THIRTY CENTS AN HOUR! - I won't help bolster anyone's online reputation, for any reason, ever. I'd sooner starve to death. This includes both Google manipulation and "leave a comment" bullshit (which are both against the TOS, but Amazon doesn't seem to be enforcing that anymore). If I get particularly pissed off, I do the opposite, particularly if the pay sucks. ("Hey, everybody! This guy is so desperate that he needs to hire people on Mechanical Turk to cover for him! Look at him and laugh! Here's a link to the HIT!") - Anything where the requester is obviously trying to squeeze as much work as it can out of us for as low pay as possible makes me want to squeeze the requester's neck instead. - I don't do transcription, but that's only because I'm no good at it. - Like the OP, I won't contribute to anything obviously harmful, unless it's so over-the-top ridiculous that anyone who believes it is a Darwin Award waiting to happen. Payday loans, no, "alternative" medicine in general, hell no, but if you ask me to write an article on how eating a special herb on a full moon during your astrological sign's ascendance cures cancer, I just might go through with it if the pay's good enough.
Great reply Slicer, made me smile I did write a short piece on aromatherapy earlier, but only because I turned to it myself during pregnancy.
It's all about profitability for me. If I accept it and then realize that it's going to take me more time than it's worth, then I return it. Morals/ethics/whatever have no bearing on it... I mean I submitted hundreds of the porn description hits, so what more could there be that would make me not want to do it because of morals haha.
Morals ! Who cares about them nowadays ? It is only money that matters. My thing is I won't beg or bow down before anybody for money or food. But, I will do legitimate work as long as it brings me money. Even little money is ok - drop by drop makes the ocean. Just speaking about being moral does not make us self sufficient or self reliant... Just practical thinking !
Vijay do you have children? I'd have had your view before I had mine. Believe me, I would beg if it was the only way my kids were going to eat, so I never say never! I do a lot of penny jobs, but only if they are quick and easy to do, if there's more than a few clicks effort involved I don't bother. If I had to leave the house to work I'd earn about the same, after paying someone to care for my little ones.
Hi interneteditor, I did the HIT on payday loans that you mentioned. I, too, am not in favor of pay day loans and money lenders who charge exorbitant interest rates, but it was still a money-earning opportunity and it was easy to do, so I took it. I also checked the requester's website before I accepted the HIT and was glad to find that they had articles on responsible borrowing and managing one's finances.
There are lots of HITs I don't do -- for hundreds of various reasons. My return rate is 25%. (Really.) (Even I find that hard to believe.) :rolleyes: But I am extremely picky and choosy about HITs. And even still I must confess that I have done some that I regret doing. (And even now I'm still doing some that I think I shouldn't. So now I'm gonna stop doing those.) Like I said, I have hundreds of reasons. This is just a random one: I won't do HITs asking people to write positive reviews of (for example) books on Amazon. In my first month on MT, I've seen at least one of those, and I've seen the several suspicious-looking reviews of the book in question. I think it's pathetic / egregious / hilarious that Amazon's own M-Turk can be used to buy fake reviews of stuff on Amazon itself. I wish Amazon could and would get a clue, invest in some seriously definitive enforcement, and put a final and permanent stop to this.
Im at 25% return as well. Does that hurt you though? I return some when I realize I am getting ripped off, or I don't think I can do the job good enough. But a lot of the time, its because CrowdFlower says they got a million hits available, and I go to do one, and it says "no hits available" lol.
My return rate is pretty high also, about 25%, pretty much because I don't care about that. I've NEVER seen a HIT that I'm not qualified for due to a high return rate.
I don't do hit's that simply aren't worth my time and those include hits that pay way less than they should or the hits that appear to be scams. Morality isn't really much of an issue with me when it comes to turking.
Hello Interneteditor, Well, I am not married at all... I just gave my thoughts... Nothing more than that... I reiterate that money is the key nowadays - though I don't subscribe to that thinking. But, reality bites. It is only money and nothing else matters. Even according to your point, if you have kids, you obviously have to take care of them anyway. If the society is not going to allow you to earn your rightful livelihood, then one has got no other way to take care of himself. Of course, I don't agree on you on this point too - I would steal rather than beg. Why should we beg for no fault of us ? By the way, good luck to you and your family...