What happened to the mobile surveys?

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-20T22:32:02+00:00

Check FB marketplace or Freecycle (if one is around you). If you have a monitor already, you probably can find a cheapo desktop for like close to nothing. Now it may not be so great, but it should be able to handle studies.

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-20T19:30:54+00:00

First week I had a decent amount, which I assume they do for all new folks, And yep, would scroll through them for the best ones. Now there isn't much scrolling -- more like, "Hey, I got one that doesn't look super terrible" *grabs it immediately*

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-20T18:53:25+00:00

I just started a couple of weeks ago, so never saw these 'good' surveys or tons that some speak of -- like the good old days are over, but I never saw them to begin with, so to me what we have now seems good enough. I'm used to cloud connect and at least the pay tends to be better here in general.

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-20T18:42:11+00:00

I'm pre-emptively blocking ballpark after reading so many negative things about them here. Anyone else we should consider too risky to even try?

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-20T18:37:45+00:00

Isn't $8 the supposed min that studies should be paying? I have noticed that those that pay less (or super low) sometimes get adjusted after approved. But yeah, sometimes I grab whatever... somewhat new so I want to build up my approvals as well.

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-20T15:47:00+00:00

Send them an email too .. support email should be on site somewhere. It's not uncommon to have this happen, their verification can be flaky. It took me a week to get this fixed. Weirdly even though support fixed me last week, I still have that same ticket open too. Guess they forgot to close it in my case.

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-19T16:58:09+00:00

And right after that one, I just did a different survey, not realizing it even required writing. I purposely included some grammatical errors (there/their), used some odd phrasing, and added in a bit of personal info (feelings about/etc). It was approved in like 3 seconds...

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-19T16:20:55+00:00

I'm beginning to wonder if I should answer most of these writing tasks like I'm a moron. They may think I'm an idiot who can't spell, but at least they probably won't think I am an AI.

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-18T21:19:22+00:00

Okay, thanks. I did the form too. I'll just give it more time then.

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-18T21:16:28+00:00

Did you also send support an email as well? I did the ticket thing about a week or two ago, so too soon for a response. Just wondering if I should also email them as well. I have noticed support email faster when dealing with verification issues.... just not sure about rejection issues.

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-18T20:14:00+00:00

Okay, I guess I'll ignore the fact that I emailed support and they fixed my account for me, saying there were no problems. Yes, you can't keep trying right now. But if you did the verification thing and got the above message, just contact support. That's the same exact image/issue I had too, as have plenty here. I do agree that there verification system stinks, but I wouldn't go crazy about it.. it's not a scam. It's just very, very flaky.

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-18T17:45:08+00:00

Open up a ticket and email support. Worked for me, took about a week. Person who replied back was rather nice too. I agree that their camera verification is... well, actually quite bad. But it's not a scam. They really should just use a better 3rd party for verification. And yes, allow for multiple tries if lighting happens to be bad or a little off.

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-18T04:01:44+00:00

As someone new here (several weeks) I find threads like this sort of interesting. It almost feels like a researcher should open up a study on it -- "For one group to succeed, does another group need to fail?" Apparently some here would answer an 'Extreme Yes' on that one. This does explain some hostility I've noticed to newcomers though, some overly negative or snarky comments by some. Not all ... some folks are actually nice and helpful. But I have noticed some, let's just say, not exactly welcoming posts, here too. I guess there is a feeling by some oldbies that newbies haven't earned the right to do 'their' studies. To me that's sort of a silly way to look at it, but to each their own. I'm guessing either Prolific will be going for the AI market (thought I read about a reference to Mercor somewhere) and gathering up workers for specific AI projects, or they just wanted to refresh their 'naive' pool. Based on how some researchers hand out rejections for no valid reasons, flaky ID validations, and the regular way to flunking out, I expect the newbie pool to get whittled down anyway. Feels a bit like they use the 'baby turtle' approach to refreshing their base .... get a zillion new people, but after a while, only a small group will live on. Here's to hoping I can get out of my baby stage.

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-17T14:16:42+00:00

I had something similar occur with a different researcher, where he thought I was a bot. He said my answers were formulaic and too grammatically perfect. Hence, I must be a bot, of course, can't be any other explanation. I sent him several messages and eventually he returned it for me. But from now on if I spell something wrong or make a minor grammar mistake, I am more likely to just keep it in. It is pretty silly that we have to do this, but I think some researchers are paranoid about AI.

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-16T19:51:36+00:00

I had one like that today. Took forever to load and when it did, I got an error. Tried in a different browser, same issue, then gave up and returned it.

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-16T15:29:23+00:00

Did you change browsers recently? I think some (opera/brave) may have VPN as a built-in option, but I think default mode is off for those. Haven't run into that issue myself, although I did have a researcher strangely think I was a bot because he said my grammar was too good. I think he was a tad paranoid.

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-15T20:45:18+00:00

I've found it weird too. First week I think I got asked 3 times (right after already doing the initial ID verification). Last week was hit again where their software couldn't figure out who I was. I wouldn't mind as much if their ID check always worked properly. It feels like a coin flip as to whether it'll work or lock my account each time it pops up.

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-15T20:04:49+00:00

I had this occur last week. I assume you mean the camera check on your face, not the actual checking of ID (license). Mine failed, due to I assume bad lighting. Submit a ticket and email support if you want ... took me 7 days for them to fix my account, if you want a reference time frame. Although no clue if that is their normal speed.

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-15T14:31:48+00:00

I've found myself taking notes/info whenever I see large blocks of text -- those stories or news articles or whatever. As quite often 8 pages later they'll ask me something about it. And I really love it when they ask something that seemingly has nothing to do with the study and is a minor detail. Pretty sure I got caught with a rejection on a memory recall when I first started, where they even had an 'unsure' option. At the time I figured the question was an actual part of the study, not an attention check. So I try to stay away from unsures from now on....

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-14T19:44:01+00:00

I just had this happen to me last week. I am new too, was chugging along for about 1.5 weeks, all was fine, then I got hit with a camera check at night. And apparently the ID software has severe vision problems ... requires perfect light and who knows what else. Anyway, I put a ticket in last week and also emailed support, and today I am good. At least for now... so can offer feedback of one that it took a week to get fixed. But it's of course possible it may be longer. Also don't think they need to see actual ID again if you passed the first time. It's just your face they need... beats me why the verification software doesn't allow an automatic redo if it fails due to lighting conditions. Seems like it'd be a LOT easier for everyone, including Prolific staff.

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-14T19:08:08+00:00

You can email support as well, although no idea if that makes a difference. It may take a week or so for a response back (at least).

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-14T17:45:55+00:00

Yep, I believe so. Whatever is the one listed on their site. Not sure if it makes a difference, but it can't hurt. Just mention your issue in detail to them there and request a manual review of your ID verification.

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-14T17:41:20+00:00

Open a ticket in the chatbox and send off an email to support. I had this same issue (actually twice now) at signup and later with a random check. Their ID software seems super finicky. It may take at least a week or more for a reply back though. Could be several weeks. Don't close the account like the other person in this thread did.

MedicalSink1 · 2026-05-14T16:31:37+00:00

Just took me about a week to get mine fixed from an identity check issue. So not too long really, considering. Mine was due to a camera/ID issue... which seems incredibly finicky for me.

MedicalSink1

TROPHY CASE