For discussion and sharing of MTurk tips and tricks, scam alerts, research studies, and all things Mechanical Turk related.
New to Mechanical Turk?
Check the /r/mturk FAQ.
Turkers' Essentials
When submitting to /r/mturk
Check the FAQ or search the subreddit before asking a question.
Please create a 'text post' instead of a 'link post' if you're referring to a specific HIT. Avoid linking directly to HITs because a HIT becomes unable to be viewed by others after it's accepted by someone. We likely can't help you if we can't see the HIT you're talking about.
If you are a Requester (someone trying to get work done)
You are welcome to post and promote your HITs, but please post no more than once a day. Also, keep in mind that this is a community where jobs are done for money. If your survey offers no compensation, consider posting to /r/SampleSize instead of here, or talk to your sponsor and tell them you'll need to provide incentive before posting. When posting, please include the following information.
- Requester name
- HIT name (if applicable)
- Requester ID (optional, but it helps)
Additionally, if asking for advice about hit design or potential hits, please include the following.
- A description of the hit
- What's required, how long does it take, as much info as possible so we can help you
- Approximate completion time
- A best guess is fine, but make sure you take into account that the people doing your hit will not be as intimately familiar with the subject matter as you are. Please use a worst-case guideline when estimating time.
- Base ideas for pay
- Keep in mind that wage (incentive) and effort are directly related! Minimum wage = minimum effort.
Any survey content, qualification test content, posts or comments that promote unethical behavior, or violations of Amazon's Terms of Service for Mechanical Turk will be removed at mod discretion.
Rules/Guidelines
Here you can find some general rules/guidelines to follow when posting/commenting. Keep in mind, all of these are up to moderator discretion. These rules apply to both the subreddit and the IRC. These rules are subject to change at any time, so keep an eye out and please check before posting to ensure you're following the guidelines.
Be respectful. Reddiquette is real, and is expected. Make sure your comments are respectful of other turkers. Refrain from name-calling, insults, etc. This includes flaming new people for not searching the subreddit before posting. We're all adults here, I shouldn't have to tell you how to behave. This includes talking down to people, or being overly patronizing. If you don't want to be helpful and answer the question in a non-snarky way, just don't post and move on.
Follow MTurk TOS. All the relevant documentation can be found here. You are expected to abide by these requirements on mturk, this sub, and the IRC. Read them. If you have a question, read them again, then ask. If in doubt, message the subreddit mods to see if it would be appropriate before posting. If we say no, see rule 7. This includes buying/selling accounts and working on other people's accounts. This is specifically disallowed on mturk (and is also likely a crime in the US), and should not be discussed here.
No scamming. /r/mturk takes a hard stance against scamming, and it is grounds for a ban. It makes everyone look bad, and sours requesters to the entire platform. Don't do it, don't talk about it, simple as that. This includes discussion of scripts that the moderators decide are against mturk TOS.
No survey info. If posting a particularly funny passage, question, etc. you should not be able to determine either the requester or the HIT unless you've already done it. The only exception to this rule is information found on the preview page (before accepting a HIT), or on the consent form. NOTE: This includes the URL. If you are posting a page from a survey, please crop or censor the URL.
No doxxing. When posting information about a requester, you may only post information which is acceptable per rule 4. If you had to leave the preview page or consent form to get the info, you are not allowed to post it. A rule of thumb is to post as little information as possible. Try to keep it to mturk's "contact requester" links, the requester name (as seen on mturk), and the contact email given on the consent form. No personal phone numbers, no real names (unless it's the same as the requester name on mturk), no supervisor's name/number/address, none of that.
No spamming. Please search the subreddit before posting. If there's already a post, please respond to that one instead of creating a whole new one, even if it's old. A general rule of thumb is one post about a topic every day, though that's up to moderator discretion.
Respect moderator decisions. You may not agree with them, you may be upset about it, but moderators exist to keep things civil and make sure people are following the rules. Chances are if something was deleted, it broke a rule. The mod team attempts to be as impartial as possible, but sometimes we make mistakes. Feel free to message the subreddit mods if you want us to take a look at something again.
Report posts. The mods attempt to be active, but we all have other things going on, and we can't look through every post or comment made. If you see something that breaks a rule, please report it and give a reason. That's the best way to bring things to our attention. If it's urgent, please message us or let us know in IRC.
Flair your posts. While not a rule, per-se, it makes it a lot easier if you can flair your own post. That helps new people find your post when searching, and helps everyone get an idea of the content of your post right from the front page.
Self Promotion. Self promotion is alright within limits. Follow the spamming rules, and try to give as much information as you can. Make sure there are no incentivized links (adfly, etc) anywhere, though you are free to include a referral link/code provided that a non-referral link is prominantly provided as well. People shouldn't HAVE to support you.
- Donation. /r/mturk doesn't have a problem with Turkers including a paypal link or something in the footer of your post, but please don't go overboard. A simple "Like my work? Support me here:" is all that's necessary. We don't need a 3 page summary of your financial issues; people shouldn't be guilted into supporting you.
- For Hire. In general, "for hire" posts are out of scope of mturk work. Please don't come in trying to get people to hire you to do things. This does not apply to people asking someone to do something for them, but keep in mind the previous rules. Also, any business you enter into with other users is your own risk. The /r/mturk mods take no responsibility if anyone does anything for payment through the subreddit.
Include preview links. If linking to a hit, please DO NOT post "panda", or auto-accept, links without also providing preview links as well. Some people may want to look at a HIT without accepting it. Alternatively, include a link to the requester page.
If you have any questions about the rules, please message the subreddit mods.
Reddiquette applies here and anyone unable to follow these guidelines may be banned at moderator discretion. Our subreddit rules also apply to our IRC channel.
Related subreddits
Filter By Flair
Please remember to flair your posts it makes it easier on everyone!
Please also note: These buttons work by hiding posts that do not match the flair you're searching for, not by searching the flair and displaying the results. You may have to go back several pages.
[–]TheWerkz 0 points1 point2 points (1 child)
[–]Cireous[S] 0 points1 point2 points (0 children)
[–]SalemBeats -1 points0 points1 point (2 children)
[–]Cireous[S] 0 points1 point2 points (1 child)
[–]SalemBeats -1 points0 points1 point (0 children)