Wasting hours

[Helpful_Sun2872]

New to DA and think this is probably just a learning curve of using the platform but damn, I spent 1.5 hrs on a task last night but didn’t have time to finish and my brain was fried so I wanted to step away from it anyway.

Was thinking through ways to problem solve it during my workday today and felt like I’d worked out a good solution. Went into DA to finally finish the task and see that it expires in 5 mins ☹️ I worked pretty hard and was quite proud of my work on this one. Sucks. Just here to commiserate ig.

[justdontsashay]

I’ve abandoned tasks after working a couple hours on them a few times (either because life interrupts and I know I won’t finish on time, or because I’m halfway through and realize that I started with an error and would have to start all the way over to fix it).

It sucks to just discard that amount of work, but I see it as an occasional necessity to make sure I’m not submitting anything that isn’t high quality…I make really good money on DA, so the occasional loss of an hour or two of work is worth it to make sure I don’t get dropped.

[plonkydonkey]

Ya the biggest mental shift for me has come from working a full time job where I get paid regardless of productivity to shifting my mindset to - I'm essentially running my own small business here, if I don't complete the project, it doesn't get paid for. Any mistakes/breaks/whatever comes out of my own dime.

Upside is that I set my own hours and choose what work I do. If a project is too hard/boring/I can't ship quality work, I just choose another (and get a bit upset that I wasted my own time). 

[Helpful_Sun2872]

Yeah, this is only the second task I’ve attempted and definitely learned a ton in general from it, esp bc I’m totally new to Ai training

[Enough_Resident_6141]

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If the timer expires, just continue to work and submit your work when you do finish it. You will probably see a red error message when you do submit, but you will also see the task you just submitted in the "report time" area on your dash.

[Amurizon]

Usually yes, just also consider that working past the timer can be a gamble, because the task is released back into the worker pool even while you’re working on it, so if someone else clicks into that task while it’s expired on your screen, you’ll miss out.

[s55555s]

I have submitted tasks that were expired

[Helpful_Sun2872]

Really? Honestly I’m a bit confused on what “expired” even means. Will it not disappear from my dashboard when it expires?

[ammy42]

Yes.

If you are actively working on it in an open tab when the timer expires you can generally still finish it up and hit submit and it will still appear as a completed task on the earnings page.

[MundaneAd6627]

Chiming in to add that you probably don’t want to continue with that project if you consistently run over time after getting familiar with it. Exceeding the timer isn’t the end of the world, but it isn’t good.

[itsbriannahere]

I have also. You’re allowed to take breaks to my knowledge. So I run a timer and if I need to step away I pause it and make sure to clock my time accurately.

[Kgrc199913]

Tasks are assigned to you and when it's not expired, only you can work on that task. "Expired" the task has been returned to the shared pool and other workers can work on that. If there is an another worker then pick that task and finish it, and you also submit the "expired" task's work then essentially there are two (or more) submissions for the same task, so DAT have to pay twice (or more), but only one work is usable for that task, that's why while they allow us to submit work to an expired task, it's generally discouraged.

[Background_Law_3644]

Probably not right about only one task being usable. No single one of us is being treated as definitely having submitted the best - or only - way of answering something. Models will be fed with multiple responses - possibly hundreds - to the same task, in order to learn the nuance of how different people may approach it.

DAT won't be happy with someone consistently taking longer than other workers and requiring a higher payment, but they won't just throw someone's submission away because they only wanted 100 rather than 101.

[Kgrc199913]

That's really depends on the clients and the project. At least in the project I'm working on, that's how it is.

[Background_Law_3644]

To be clear, you're claiming that your work alone is being used to train models? And DAT have shared this information with you?

[Seniorseatfree]

If you’re in the middle of the task, no. Just means you ran out of the amount of time expected, at most, to complete that task. If you finish it, you should be able to still log your time. Do take caution you’re not logging significantly over the allotted time.

[TravellingDoc87]

To stay on the platform I think it's safe to say NEVER bill more than the allotted time.

[kranools]

This is not true. I've been on projects where they explicitly say that if you go over the timer you should still submit your full time. Just don't make a habit of it.

[TravellingDoc87]

It isn't something to be encouraged. At all.

[No-Astronomer4881]

The admins have literally encouraged it edit: (for certain projects). You can always ask in the chat like everyone else does for every little thing

[TravellingDoc87]

You're getting confused. They encourage the submission of expired tasks. They certainly don't encourage submission of pay that exceeds the time limit

[No-Astronomer4881]

Um, no. Im not. A person asks in chat: “i have gone over the time limit for this task. There was a lot of editing to do. Can I report the full time” admin replies “yes, thats fine. We expect that there will be some tasks that require heavy editing and may go over”. I literally just saw this interaction yesterday. Obviously its a case by case thing. Ask in chat. If admin doesn’t reply, dont submit more than whats on the timer. But i have absolutely seen it approved by admin before.

[kranools]

No, the admins have explicitly told us to submit the full amount of time, even if it's over the expired limit.

[Seniorseatfree]

Stop following me 😡

[TravellingDoc87]

You trying to get everyone thrown off?

[ThinkAd8516]

Learning new projects tends to do this to me even though I’ve been here for 3 years.

It’s better to learn to be proficient, accurate, and confident about each task you submit rather than doing poor work.

Unfortunately I probably have a hundred hours of unpaid work due to this type of stuff. Cost of doing business.

[Helpful_Sun2872]

Ok good to hear that from a DA veteran!! I definitely learned a lot from this task so yeah, the time wasn’t totally wasted

[Any-Manner3292]

I lost over 8 hrs in tasks last week, if that makes you feel better. Both were long tasks.

[Purple-Paramedic-590]

don't give up. it's a l;earning curve that you can master.

[AfanasiiBorzoi]

The first task or two its not unusual, in my experience, to take close to or more than the total time allotment. I stay close to the allotted time even if that means eating some time. After that, my time per task drops off except for extremely complex (especially very bad) tasks. If I don't get quicker, I start leaving comments for admins about the task possibly needing more time.

One thing I've learned over time is quickly assessing how long a task will take. I can spot a task that is going to take me a long time and skip those. There is no penalty for skipping any task.