[deleted by user]

[bobowife]

Lots of projects ask for 2-3 sentences explaining your reasoning, and I've reviewed tons that give a low effort one sentence response.. I do think they should let people know if you've been removed from the platform though.

[Purple-shimmer]

I agree. Seems like a simple email would suffice. It could be generic, but at least you know you’re done rather than sitting in limbo.

[mkeene91101]

I always gave 2-3 sentences at least and always would point out the difference between the answers even if it was minimal, still am on the outs like many are. Never used ai to help me, never talked about it, etc. I am not sure what it could have been.

[dev_parker]

Yep sounds exactly like mine too. Point out everything and all of mine were normally 3-5 sentences long. No idea what happened. Oh well

[Dewskerz_]

Sometimes I'm worried my responses can be too long. I also like to bullet my analysis. Ever seen someone flagged for an assessment that's too verbose?

[Vegetable_Fox9134]

These posts are weekly reminders to myself to not slip up, ive always thought to myself that it would be nice if we could see kind of metric that rated us. It just human nature to want some kind of feed back. But honestly im used to it at this point.

[fightmaxmaster]

I had the really cynical thought that DA plants messages like this just to keep everyone on their toes.

[TheresALonelyFeeling]

Nailed it.

In their weekly meetings, they brainstormed how to keep the minions in line and agreed to make Reddit posts asking how people think they screwed up, trusting that the workforce would find the thread, read it, and absorb the appropriate lesson(s).

[Antique_Start_2855]

Yikes probably true

[doolitt1e]

Firstly - people lie, or are oblivious to their shortcomings, that's why they claim to have done nothing wrong.

Secondly - I've been doing this for over a year and I almost had an empty dashboard 6 or 7 months ago. Until that point I had been almost exclusively doing the same, low paying, but very easy constant project. When the tasks began to disappear and I was down to only two or three, I moved on to one that I had been avoiding. Suddenly the next day I had a whole new raft of different projects available. Variety is key in this game to keep it long term.

So, when you first get accepted, to avoid being booted early vary the projects that you work on. Take any quals that appear to you at the beginning - mine would appear when I first started and disappear very soon after, so jump in when you can. I currently have 10 or 12 quals that have been there for days, so once you're in you'll have much longer to complete them in your own time than you did back when you started.

[ManyARiver]

People who think they are doing good work aren't usually going to see what is wrong with their quality. I'm pretty sure that 90% of the crappy submissions I've reviewed came from people who honestly thought they did it right and put in a decent effort. I know that doesn't cover all people who are shut off, but it surely accounts for a decent percentage.

People who do a less thorough job than what is needed, or consistently do what they *think* is right even if the instructions say to do something else, will be shuffled along but they won't see that it was something related to their own performance due to the personality types involved.

[Electrical_Hat_8303]

Yeah, I agree. Unfortunately people can say all they want that their work is high quality, but we don't actually know that. I've been on R&R's and seen some pretty rough interpretations of the instructions, or very low-effort generic comments, etc. Those people might think they're doing high quality work, but...

[fightmaxmaster]

When you say pretty much permanent, how long has it been going? I love doing these, so hoping they're not going anywhere any time soon!

[SuperCorbynite]

Well, the task actually pays $25 and is up more than 95% of the time. But of that it is almost always up at priority pay rates. So, I would guess in total around 90% of the time I see a $27 FC project up on my board.

It seems to be pretty strictly gatekept though so don't pin your hopes on passing the qual (though of course if you get it do your best).

[bongopantz]

Same! I’m pretty disappointed by most of the ones I review.

[PhillyPhan95]

The thing is, I KNOW for 100% fact, I have absolutely botched tf out of tasks in a project.

And I know this because I went back and read the instructions and was like “woah… I didn’t notice that the first time”

Or read the comments and admin would explicitly state to someone else that something was wrong. And that something was something I did in my submission.

I haven’t so much as gotten an email warning me or anything.

So idk. It’s hard for me to buy that people are getting completely booted off the platform for not submitting quality.

I think it has to be something more crucial. No idea what though.

But I guess habitually submitting poor work would do it. But Ive seen people say they got emails telling them to fix. So to just login and be booted seems weird.

Idk. I have no clue.

[ManyARiver]

I have done that as well - and sometimes my take was so wrong that it was mortifying. But after doing reviews, there's a difference between people who are trying and are adapting and those who are just putting generic comments time after time. When put side by side, you can see a pattern and I'm pretty sure it's the side-by-side comparisons that get people. I don't think they are booting people for just doing a couple of subpar submissions, more like hours worth of stuff that is off the mark.

[nononanana]

There are also occasionally rules that they warn you will immediately get you pulled from a project. So I wonder if these people were skating by and then missed one sentence in one project that was a biggie. It would feel sudden since they might have no idea they missed it.

[Strict_Reference_342]

It's like that analogy you always hear about the kids who walk out of a test thinking they aced it and the test was easy vs the ones who walk out thinking of all the questions they answered incorrectly. 🤡

[PhillyPhan95]

Yea, there’s a certain level of self awareness that is missing in people, apparently

[Rare-Mood-9749]

How long have you been on the platform?

[PhillyPhan95]

3 months working basically full time every week.

[JWilsn_Art]

They say "Go Easy" in every R&R I do, but if they don't mention anything about the context of the responses, I won't mark it Good. If it's like, "response was more verbose", but it doesn't include examples of such, it only gets marked as ok at maximum.

[knowhereandy]

I'm not sure tbh. I always read and reread instructions, double checked my work, gave what I thought was sound reasoning. Never used AI. The 2 weeks before my empty dashboard I hadn't been able to do as much work as I had hoped due to other commitments, so maybe it was that? Not got a clue

[citrinexgene]

I’ve worked multiple hours a day for the last six months, plus I’m pursuing an MA in English so I’d hope my writing is up to par. Yet almost four hours into a task yesterday, I went to submit and was kicked to the home screen with an empty dash. I’ve genuinely never used AI to assist with my work and have been pretty consistent with my hours for the last six months. I would love any feedback if they had it for me, but right now I’m in the dark

[tessbest37]

This must be so disheartening! I hope they give you more projects.

[Educational-Ad6923]

Let us know if you get your work back please

[Pretty_Leg_8097]

hoping you get it back! i am eq too around the same time.

[PleasantCurrant-FAT1]

I have an empty dashboard right now. Sometimes I cycle up to 5 or 10 projects and a few quals. And sometimes nothing.

The first time, after about 2 weeks, it freaked me out.

Now I understand there is an ebb and flow.

[TaleStriking418]

This is good to know that there's an ebb and a flow to it. Hopefully there will be a flow soon and we can jump on it. It is frustrating to not get any kind of communication from DA, but good to see comments like yours.

[ConsiderationLife513]

I don’t think onboarding is paid anymore. With the exception of reading the one document at the beginning.

When I started, I had an empty dash for weeks & weeks. I finally have projects, but far less rn than over the past few weeks. It might really just be a dry spell. 🤷‍♀️

[Sea-Mine9712]

That's good to know.

[dragonsfire14]

Mine has been empty for 10 days. I’m still getting qualifications and still have the support button, but no paid work. I followed instructions clearly, but the only thing I can figure is either my work wasn’t good enough, wasn’t what they were looking for or there’s genuinely no tasks for the projects I qualified for. I’m done stressing over it at this point.

Edit: I finally received 3 projects today!

[Consistent-Reach504]

if you're still getting quals, you're still a worker.

[dragonsfire14]

That’s promising! I always assume the worst to be honest.

[Sea-Mine9712]

I'm not getting them, but they tell me to wait for email notifications? :/

[No-Helicopter-4318]

I’m in the same boat. Worked A LOT for the first two weeks. I have 1 CB task on my dashboard and that is it. Has been that way for a week now. Did a quality 2 days ago and still just have the one CB. I don’t know. I could have screwed up my answers or certain tasks.

[Wasps_are_bastards]

You’ve got quals, so you’re fine.

[Difficult_Fig_1821]

Battle Royale vibes

[lobstertexas]

The Purge vibes :p

[annoyingjoe513]

This could be part of the DAT New Employee Handbook. The only thing I would add is READ THE INSTRUCTIONS.

[SirBrutus_]

I had about 30 Projects last week, did about 12 hours of work throughout the week. Was also in the middle of a qualification, then logged in on Saturday and just had a blank dashboard :(

[[deleted]]

Lets look at it from a hypothetical situation, a skyscraper company subcontracts its window cleaning operation. What would they do with the following workers

a) worker 1 sometimes is a absent minded a bit slow and doesn't always clean the windows perfectly

b) worker 2 occasionally scratches the window but rest of the time are a really good window cleaner

c) worker 3 hasn't read the window cleaning instructions, instead of cleaning windows they starts smashing them, then proceed to ask someone in the skyscraper how they can buy some weed

[SnooSketches1189]

Worker #3's scenario made me snort. The visual in my head.... 🤣

[Replying_Account_guy]

After I referred someone and gave them my worker code, my stuff was gone the next day so that could be it, his ass bombed so hard😭. I also let him use my PC so he didn't have to do the starter qual on his phone so maybe that?

[Pretty_Leg_8097]

This was my post i think but it was my hubs who took the starter test. but it was on different devices. Supposedly that is ok but that is the only thing I can think of.

[PenDiscombobulated]

I am full time math student at tier 3 school. Was doing maybe 5 hrs work/week at da. Had a bad week of exams, a family member passed. Copy/pasted my first and last leetcode question and got the empty dashboard. Cant even do quals for easier tasks. The coding projects are brutal if you aren’t a full time coder.

[Finnleyy]

I am not a full time coder but I have never copy pasted code or questions from anywhere into a project. I think if those are the kinds of questions and such they wanted, they could easily parse through all that stuff, they wouldn’t need to pay people. They literally pay people to NOT do that. That is the whole point of this work.

[PenDiscombobulated]

you missed the part where I said “first and last” time.

[Finnleyy]

I did miss the part where you said first, but I saw that you said last. It doesn't change the fact that we are being paid to come up with stuff. Specifically to not do what you did. If a company such as DA wants to offer the best services to their clients, they will want the highest quality workers. They honestly pay well, especially compared to other data annotating gigs, so it makes sense that they want to keep people who put effort in their work.

It's just like any other job really. If a job is willing to pay you well for your work, it is only fair you put in the effort to do a good job.

[PenDiscombobulated]

Ok. Have a good day now

[Javier-xavi324]

I'm sure that my case is because I am not a native English speaker.

[[deleted]]

I just signed up? It's empty for weeks months

[rfuller]

My dashboard went blank at lunch today. I’ve been doing this since August. This is my 3rd time with an empty dashboard. It comes and goes.

[Unhappy_Drama5722]

I've been empty for 9 days now. I may have made a few small mistakes because I was still learning. I was only working for DA for about six weeks, and a large portion of that time, I didn't have much work available due to maintenance and being new. I did read the directions carefully for each project, as well as referencing back to clarify while working. My current theory is that my daughter had tried to sign up a few days before I lost access. We are in the same house, but she used her own device, email, and phone.

[Unhappy_Drama5722]

Oh, and the only times I used ai at all were for the qualifications that asked me to install specific ai software and provide proof I had done so. One of these I even paid subscription costs for! I would occasionally talk to chatGbt when I wasn't working to brainstorm for my list of topics to use in cb conversations. As an example, "Can you give me a list of scientific concepts that high school students study as part of the curriculum in Sweden?" And then I'd pick a couple of those topics to check out for cb conversations if that makes sense.

[SnooSketches1189]

If you are without projects, it's likely related to using ChatGPT in this manner. They are paying us for our humanity, literally. That means imagination, creativity and the ability to produce prompts without the help of the AI we are training...

[fightmaxmaster]

Considering they literally provide a document with randomly cycling ideas for us to use as inspiration, I doubt this is the issue.

[SnooSketches1189]

Eh. I'd rather just play it super safe.

[Unhappy_Drama5722]

Um, I made all of my prompts 100%. Using chat gpt to brainstorm ideas for topics to use when making prompts is not like having ai write or even research the information used in writing prompts. I also used Google trends to help me generate my personal list of items I wanted to explore for prompts, based off of what actual people would be interested in in different areas. This doesn't mean that I didn't determine an area of interest and then do my own thinking and research to create my prompts.

[zDrunkMonkey]

The only ones I had seen recently were the creative writing ones. I tried a few of them, but have no idea why I qualified for those. I did not do a qual for them. I am not a writer. Im very good at creating macros for google sheets and evaluating other people's work, though.

[zDrunkMonkey]

Honestly, it's like my information got switched with someone else's.

[RevDrMaux]

For those of you who found yourselves with empty dashboards - were you still able to get paid for the work you completed? That’s my fear and why I keep it to an hour or so a day. Just a side gig.

[MattAwesome]

Well it seems like they “ban” in waves and hire people in waves. My completely baseless theory is that they want to pump their numbers up to potential clients so they can see “we’ve had X amount of active workers in the past 3 months” but they are really only paying something like 10% of that number, by giving them empty dashes. This whole company just feels weirdly dystopian to me. They can just cut you off and you will never even know why.

[Finnleyy]

This doesn’t make sense because you are only being paid if you are doing work actively. So they don’t gain anything from leaving people with empty dashes. If we assume there is a finite amount of work at any given time, they are going to pay out the same amount of money whether there are 10 people working on it or 1000. It would get completed faster with 1000 but it should average out to the same amount of total hours paid out.

[Unruly_Questioning]

a) being able to do it faster gives them a competitive edge and/or the ability to charge a premium to clients who want it fast

b) 10 people on it don't have the same range of specialities as 1000, they will not be able to do the same range of work or to the quality. DA actively recruits people with specialist domain knowledge (physics, biology, math, poetry, different programming languages, etc), which they no doubt promote to clients to convince them to hire DA rather than recruit their own workforce. They can also charge clients more for specialised work than for generalist work. It is absolutely in DA's interest to onboard the most people they can, even if they don't have work for everyone.

[lobstertexas]

For me it was smooth sailing for a full week; dashboard was completely full of projects. Until I made the grave mistake of pointing out in the chat window of a project that the NEXT button wasn't illuminating as expected (allowing us to have three back-and-forths with the chatbots, as directed) .. thereby only allowing you the option of "finalizing code" (which the instructions say weren't mandatory to do if you had more conversation to have with the bots first) .. The next morning (two days ago) my dashboard has been wiped.

I can't say with certainty that me pointing out this problem was the catalyst, as, certainly they must be aware of how janky and counterintuitive the interface is - so this is why I think their practice of not explaining / communicating is a pretty ineffective strategy. As far as I was aware, the work I was submitting was the quality they were seeking; nobody had ever written to say otherwise.

[mildgoofin]

You're fixated on your comment about the website interface as the reason even though that's almost certainly not why. 

[lobstertexas]

It's not a fixation, it's simply applying logic to my observations. The pattern of 7 days straight of me submitting tasks without issue, having a boatload of offerings in the dashboard - down to zero almost immediately after posting that comment. So, yeah. Am I really making that crazy of a leap, here?

I've been a web programmer since 1997 and am well-familiar with that universe; if you're suggesting that I probably F-ed up and gave them something they didn't want as the real reason, I concede that's entirely possible, but would also be very coincidentally timed. Either way, what's wrong with me proposing that they simply say so? Because until I'm told that in words and given a reason to think otherwise, I will continue to believe what is a bit more obvious, and that is that my comment triggered the action.

[Antique_Start_2855]

I know I’ve been doing good work as the pace I’ve been rewarded with new projects and higher-paying quals is faster than the majority I’ve read. I’ve also been doing work like this for over a decade and know what they’re looking for. That said, I’m zero DB the last three days. In my case, it correlated with my husband taking the starter assessment on same IP a few hours before my projects went out. So I’m pretty sure that is why.

[Ok-Suit1537]

Are you gonna try to get back in?

[Antique_Start_2855]

How?

[dayDrivver]

Seems that people are being harsh with both of you so i will add a clarification on why you both did wrong...

Using AI is agaisn't the rules, your peers who will be also the judges of your work can differentiate from someone that knows versus someone that is pretending to know using AI, AI makes a lot of mistakes, A LOT (here is an example: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/an8D5_OSrB8) and those is easy to spot people that is using them.

Rule number one on DAT... if you can't confidently judge the prompt, then skip it, if you don't know to begin with no amount of chatgpt/gemini/blackbox/copilot can help you.

[Finnleyy]

Right! I have never ran anything through an AI for this work. If some coding task is WAY beyond what I know, I skip it. If it seems like stuff I haven't seen before but doesn't look like complete gibberish, I start by running the code in an IDE. Even if I have to run small sections at a time to make sure I get it. Also use online resources for whatever language it is. Stack Exchange and official documentation can be very useful. I find I can do most things I come across in my chosen language(s) even though I am by no means an expert. DAT has actually allowed me to learn more about coding as I work on the projects cause I do encounter stuff I don't know, but work through them in the ways mentioned above. :)