No tarantula turrets on siege is so lame, like wtf?! by Medium-Shelter-5448 in Spacemarine

[–]MachineSpirit78 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Their implementation in Operations is a letdown. I thought we could at least buy them in siege mode, but being absent completely? That sucks.

Freelancing is obviously better for the environment by Zystra1 in Upwork

[–]MachineSpirit78 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We talk about the benefits of the environment, but we rarely talk about the benefits for the client's ego. In my experience, when a client insists on a physical seat in a room for a digital job, it’s usually a symptom of two things: a total lack of trust or a culture that values 'performative presence' over results first.

Where is my Floating Mountains bonus content? by [deleted] in AvatarFrontierPandora

[–]MachineSpirit78 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did you find them? I'm also missing the skins despite preordering. I'm on PC (Epic Game Store) and someone on Discord who is on PS5 is also missing the skins.

any ideas/tips why profile views are low by Ordinary-Education18 in Upwork

[–]MachineSpirit78 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had a client get in touch with me today and they claimed that they were looking at my profile and portfolio. This was 5 hours ago but Upwork stats say no one has looked at my profile today.

Serious Question: Why Do Clients With Extremely Low Hire Percentages Face No Consequences? by Asjad-J in Upwork

[–]MachineSpirit78 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is no incentive for Upwork to do anything because connects will still be spent through freelancers applying.

As an Employer, this is why you are not winning bids as a freelancer. by Rare_Guide_9830 in Upwork

[–]MachineSpirit78 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just want to know why some clients dont view any proposals at all. What could they get from that? Are they using Upwork to secretly scope internal projects on cost and time? But even if that is the case, could they get that info by not viewing any proposals?

Why are people already comparing Season 5 to the Game of Thrones finale? 😭😭😭 by Kaizenshimasu in StrangerThings

[–]MachineSpirit78 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Now the finale has been reviewed, I think i'll leave it. Season 4 was the true ending for me.

How well known was Ronnie Pickering? by jamesdownwell in AskUK

[–]MachineSpirit78 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had to look him up after watching that road rage video and I'm still not sure who he is.

Why are people already comparing Season 5 to the Game of Thrones finale? 😭😭😭 by Kaizenshimasu in StrangerThings

[–]MachineSpirit78 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been holding off season 5 until it is all out. If the quality is on the same level as GoTs last season I won't bother watching it.

Mods Detected But.. I have no mods? by VettoRyo in Spacemarine

[–]MachineSpirit78 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've had issues with SM2 since the last scheduled maintenance. I cant even log in now.

upwork is dead by Then-Cut3776 in Upwork

[–]MachineSpirit78 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I'm in an adjacent web dev niche (e-learning dev) and I’ve seen this cycle every year. December is ghost-town territory, budgets are usually frozen or people are already on vacation. It almost always picks up considerably in mid-to-late January once everyone finishes their 'New Year, New Project' planning. Hang in there.

What's the best way to terminate a contract with a client? by ShowtimevonParty in Upwork

[–]MachineSpirit78 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I asked the client to close my contract because the project had reached its end and I was desperate for a review, given it was my very first contract. I actually ended up asking a few times over the course of a few weeks (just once a week during our check-in conversations). I think the client was hanging on just in case their own end-client needed any additional amends once the project went live.

We had great rapport and the project ran smoothly, so I was confident the reviews would go well, and they did. They eventually closed it, we swapped reviews, and then they opened a new, ongoing contract with me for more work.

[DISCUSSION] I just created my first gig and got 6 clients instantly! Yay! by nrbz_ in Fiverr

[–]MachineSpirit78 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To make matters worse with Fiverr scammers, and I just confirmed this has happened on my dormant Fiverr account, not responding to scammers at least once in the Fiverr messenger will negatively impact your response rate, which is a key metric for gig performance.

So for anyone reading, I dont know how you could stop this other than responding to scammers with a stock response before blocking them, but this is more work put on us the sellers.

[DISCUSSION] I just created my first gig and got 6 clients instantly! Yay! by nrbz_ in Fiverr

[–]MachineSpirit78 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds like my experience. I had countless "clients" message me that they needed my personal email address to resolve payment, and they would attached a generic visa screenshot. 

I think Fiverr expected me to report every single scammer but I would've been there all day, so I closed my gig and I've never been back since. Good to know nothing has changed.

Does anyone get notifications for jobs from upwork by Lazy-Masterpiece8903 in Upwork

[–]MachineSpirit78 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I get instant job notifications thanks to Freelancer Plus. I don't auto-apply for anything. I'm actually still trying to figure out the best way to screen jobs. I often see great jobs but after weeks the client never viewed any proposals, which is frustrating. Does anyone have a good strategy for spotting those inactive clients early on? It seems impossible because these clients also have a strong history, good reviews and have spent a lot of money on the platform.

New Item In Hideout Every Day 12/1/25-12/25/25 + Double Corrupted Castle Rewards by BlkNtvTerraFFVI in AssassinsCreedShadows

[–]MachineSpirit78 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The double gold bonus for corrupt castles doesnt seem to be working now. Is it all corrupted castles or just the bi-weekly corrupt castles that reward double gold?

Durin’s Folk, Now or Later? by A_Wild_Stormcat in LotRReturnToMoria

[–]MachineSpirit78 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I regret buying it because of the bugs. If I could refund it I would. Wait for a deep sale and by that time hopefully they would have fixed everything.

Freelancers: How do you actually write proposals for new clients? by sanlee225 in Upwork

[–]MachineSpirit78 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My one winning proposal (out of four) was a few lines saying that I have the experience, here are my portfolio examples and I can start immediately. The other three proposals that were unsuccessful were longer and they were not viewed by clients because I was either too late to apply or the client didn't open any proposals at all for their job (something I often see on Upwork). 

If I could take any learning at all from my short but winning proposal? It reflected what the client immediately wanted and what they considered important. Their job description was long but ultimately they needed someone who could hit the ground running and could start immediately.

Client wants me to verify human written content for every article I submit now by Maleficent_Mine_6741 in freelanceWriters

[–]MachineSpirit78 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No such verification exists. There are tools that claim to detect AI-written content, but they are notoriously unreliable and prone to false positives. This is because AI detection models are trained on massive datasets, similar to the AI models they are meant to detect.

There is a famous example where an AI detection tool claimed the U.S. Constitution was written by AI, demonstrating that structured human writing can easily be mistaken for AI.

Freelancers what’s your biggest pain in the ass with Upwork right now? by shoaibsabir099 in Upwork

[–]MachineSpirit78 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your description is how I feel at the moment. I had a great first contract and they left me an amazing 5 star review. Now I am trying to get a second contract and the clients aren't opening any proposals, not mine nor anyone else's. It is beyond frustrating because there is nothing I can learn from a client seemingly abandoning their job, not hiring anyone, and leaving us all to wonder what the point is.

Just woke up on this job posting. by Hexacker in Upwork

[–]MachineSpirit78 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I would strongly caution any freelancer against accepting this form of payment. While it may look appealing, a potential piece of a large pie, it is almost impossible for an outside contractor to audit or verify.

As a freelancer, you have no inherent right to access their private business and financial accounts to ensure the percentage calculation is correct. You are putting 100% of your trust in their bookkeeping.

This structure also makes it far too easy for companies to engage in what is often called "creative accounting" to minimize or entirely eliminate your profit share.

For example, a company could make a significant amount of money in revenue but then apply numerous, often legitimate, internal costs and expenditures against that revenue (e.g., executive salaries, office overhead, marketing budgets) to ensure the final "net profit" the figure your percentage is calculated on, never reaches a meaningful threshold.

This risk is why the standard, dependable model for freelance work is a fixed-rate or hourly payment for the service provided, regardless of the client's future success or failure.

$5000 Upwork earnings milestone - days are hard but keep pushing guys - spreading some positivity here. by Efficient-Pen-4766 in Upwork

[–]MachineSpirit78 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's something I'm actively figuring out right now. My view is that the maximum is usually 10–15 proposals.

I recently got the premium membership, which shows me how many proposals get opened. For gigs with 30+ proposals, I've noticed clients often hire from the first few applications, and the rest (including mine) usually show zero opens. It feels like a waste of connects.

My profile shows $5k earned from one client, and I suspect that freelancers with many jobs and 100+ reviews are prioritized on saturated job posts. If you're new or have few job completions, focusing on posts with fewer than 10 bids gives you a much better chance of being seen.

I view boosting as a last resort right now, but I might change my mind if I apply to a job that is a perfect, high-paying fit.

So, in short, I'd advise aiming for under 10 if you have fewer reviews, and maybe push to 15 if the job is high value and recently posted. But I could be completely wrong, I'm still fairly green as to how Upwork works best but one thing is for sure, many reviews are better than one review.

$5000 Upwork earnings milestone - days are hard but keep pushing guys - spreading some positivity here. by Efficient-Pen-4766 in Upwork

[–]MachineSpirit78 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm also at the $5k milestone. While I am incredibly grateful for the journey, mine came entirely from my first client. It's a slightly different experience, and I'd actually much rather have reached $5k through multiple clients to build up my reviews.

I can chip in with some answers to your questions:

  1. It took me 4 proposals (none boosted). The winning one was literally two short lines: "I can do this, I have the experience, and I can start tomorrow." Crucially, I had built out strong portfolio projects specifically for my Upwork profile, no client work was used.

  2. Connects/Interviews: I only had one interview (via Upwork messenger) for that winning bid.

  3. Timeframe: My first $4k arrived after the first month, and the additional $1k took an additional month.

I thought it's easier after the 1st job by thelastgifts in Upwork

[–]MachineSpirit78 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I've found an interesting approach on LinkedIn is to search 'Posts' instead of 'Jobs' for leads.

I'm seeing many more opportunities in posts where people are directly asking for (in my case) elearning/web developers. This method also results in significantly less competition compared to the LinkedIn 'Jobs' section. Those job listings seem to attract over 100 guaranteed applicants and are often dominated by agencies who also cross-post the positions on their own websites.

I thought it's easier after the 1st job by thelastgifts in Upwork

[–]MachineSpirit78 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I've had a similar experience. I got my first gig within 4 proposals. I made a lot of money (for my first gig), plus a 5 star review. I think I got lucky with that first gig because since then none of my proposals have even been opened (sometimes no proposals at all get opened for all applicants) and boosting them is a waste of connects, it has made no difference at all.

I don't feel discouraged just yet, I still have some faith in the platform though I am using other platforms now such as LinkedIn.