Want to Work For Hubpages On Mechanical Turk

1. 91

   Kain 360posted 10 years ago

   I would like to work for Mechanical Turk, but have heard many people do not pass the test (which intimidates me). But I have read through older forums and see some hubbers active on here have passed the test while others have failed. And I have heard mixed things about people making anywhere from $3-$12 an hour? This seems like quite a big range.
   
   I was looking through some of the examples of the articles that are rated based on substance, organization, and grammar. Mechanical Turk says that they are looking for accuracy and consistency with other ratings. It appears that the bonuses are important, at least that is what many others who work for Mechanical Turk have said. The bonuses are based on how well you rate an article.
   
   First of all, I would like to get rid of any content that is spammy, overly promotional, or simply get rid of junk articles that hurt HubPages reputation with Google a couple years ago. Second of all, this is sort of the type of work I was looking for, but was originally unavailable.
   
   I see the amount of "HITs you can get have been lowered to 100 a day.
   
   I am willing to work 4-6 hours a day. I would like advice from people who currently work for them and how I can ensure I will pass the test and rate articles correctly based on what they want, as writing can be subjective.

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      Earl Noah Bernsbyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I saw this post and was inspired to apply at Mechanical Turk, as well.  I enjoy editing hubs via the Hub Hopper tool, so I figured, why not?  To be honest, I hadn't heard of the opportunity before reading this thread. 
      
      UPDATE: Have you been accepted and/or attempted the "test" yet?  If so, could you describe your experience or offer up any words of wisdom?

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   2. 70

      galleryofgraceposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Just how much money could you possibly make at 5 cents per article? It's a waste of time.

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         Earl Noah Bernsbyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I thought it was upwards of $12/hr?  Perhaps I haven't understood the fine print ...

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      2. 91

         Kain 360posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         A lot of the potential money is made off of bonuses.
         You can get a $2.00 bonus for accuracy (not sure if more) for every 10 HITS. 5 cents is just for reading basically. Not for accuracy of rating.
         
         Someone claimed to have made $900 in a month working 25 hours a week or something -- saw on a forum.
         
         I think people who make less are rating articles badly or are not doing as many HITs.
         
         Hopefully more people who have experience in this will come to this forum.

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            Earl Noah Bernsbyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Indeed ... Could you point me towards a more comprehensive link in the meantime?

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            1. 91

               Kain 360posted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Yes I was actually going to post it in the comment I just had.
               
               http://hubpages.com/help/mturk_bonuses
               
               Thread topic where it's discussed. A lot of mixed answers. Everyone's experience is different because some have higher/lower accuracy and work more/less.
               http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/114330

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                  Earl Noah Bernsbyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  LOL, thanks!

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   3. 59

      MelissaBarrettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      It takes me around 2-3 hours to do that 100 hubs. I make 26.00 doing it. My accuracy very very rarely drops below 95 though and never for very long. I've done somewhere around 25k of them give or take...  (ah the days when the limit was 200)
      
      The bonus is very important for pay per hour.
      
      They give pretty good feedback between hits. I'm not sure about the test, to be honest I don't remember taking it.
      
      The bonus at top accuracy is 2.10 plus the .50 cents per 10 hubs...
      
      Read the requirements for each score very carefully, pay attention to the feedback between hubs, and study the sample articles.  You develop a "feel" for it after a while.
      
      My last bit of advice is not to rate articles that you have strong opinions on the subjects and don't rate hubs when you know the author and have formed an opinion one way or the other about them. After the test, you can return any hub that you don't feel comfortable rating...

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         Earl Noah Bernsbyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for the info, MelissaBarrett!

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      2. 91

         Kain 360posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, thanks for the information, but there is something I do not understand.
         
         How do you get a 92% + rating?
         
         For example if I rate an article 8-8-8, but it was off by 1 points on each of the categories, would that make me inaccurate or is that not exactly how accuracy is determined?
         
         I really want to make sure I can pass the test. I do not want to fail.

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         1. 59

            MelissaBarrettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I have no idea. They don't really give you specific grades that often. You aren't going to really know what their ratings are on the test articles...even after you rate them. So there's no way to tell.

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            1. 91

               Kain 360posted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Oh....
               
               Well going by those examples I can see why some of them got horrible ratings.
               
               http://hubpages.com/sample/ae4uG
               
               That one I initially felt could have got higher on substance. But then I realized it was only 250 words and had no media in it. I'd imagine if it had more elements than just text and was 500 words or more it could have been rated higher?

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                  MelissaBarrettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  Beyond that you have to take the place of a searcher looking for a review and summary of On the Water  Front.
                  
                  Why would you have been looking for that information? Would the hub have been helpful for that purpose?
                  
                  It reads like the cover insert of a book. No real information, just hints at the plot and pretty language.

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                  1. 91

                     Kain 360posted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     Yes I agree. The language was good. That was the main aspect I noticed, and it provided some generalities and not many specifics. And for HubPages 250 words is not much at all. Every article I wrote for HP on other accounts etc.. was at least 500 words.
                     
                     MelissaBarret you seem to be quite the expert. I see some people bashing Mturk, while others see potential.
                     
                     I don't want to be one of those people who make $1.20 an hour (assuming I pass ) like that article said posted below in this forum.
                     
                     The only thing I can say is that some people must have extremely low accuracy and only spend 30 minutes a day instead of more. Perhaps this is why some people are bashing it -- they had a bad experience or simply are biased in some way.

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                     1. 59

                        MelissaBarrettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        MTurk and HP as a requester on MTurk are rather mutually exclusive.
                        
                        Most of the turkers I know don't even do Hubs. I do but they really aren't my main source of income on MTurk.
                        
                        There are lots of other requesters. I suggest a trip to the Mturk forums to get yourself acquainted before you venture too far out there

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                        1. 91

                           Kain 360posted 10 years agoin reply to this

                           Yes, I see that MTurk has audio inscriptions on to do and things of that nature.

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2. 91

   Millionaire Tipsposted 10 years ago

   I passed the test and have rated some articles, but got busy with other things.  I think the key is to read the directions.  There is a chart that gives you guidelines on how to rate things, and sample hubs that help clarify the chart.  I found it helpful to print out the samples and the guidelines, and take my time at the beginning to do the rating.  I figured that over time, I would get a better feel for the rating and get faster. (I know this is true because I rate student essays or a living.)  Having printouts help make sure you don't forget the guidelines and start coming up with your own meanings.

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      Kain 360posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, I am going to reread the examples multiple times and also look at the chart scale.
      
      I feel this particular article should have perhaps got a higher rating on substance, though. http://hubpages.com/sample/ae4uG
      
      What are your thoughts on that?
      
      Writing definitely seems very subjective because I had two writing teachers in college and one seemed stricter than the other.
      
      For example, some people believe that words like "however" should not be used at beginning of sentences. It's not exactly "right" or "wrong." But some believe it's not proper.
      
      My teacher also believed that using words like "you're" is sloppy or something. The other teacher gave us examples of essays that were considered good and they have often started sentences with It, however, but etc...
      
      This lead me to getting A's in the one class and B's in the other.

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      1. 91

         Millionaire Tipsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         The key to scoring is to try to think like the customer - in this case HubPages.  That's the only way for all of the hubs to get consistent ratings - if we all try to think alike. 
         
         You have to figure out how HubPages thinks so you can give the hubs the score HubPages would give it, instead of what you or either of your teachers would.

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         1. 91

            Kain 360posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Well I know for a fact that there are many different writing styles on HubPages. As long as a person does not write utter gibberish and does not have a TON of spelling, grammar areas, and organization is not terrible, they will get featured.
            
            Those examples are the only thing I can currently go off.
            
            How accurate do you have to be when rating?
            
            If I give an article 7-8-7, but I was off by 1 point on each the categories, would I be considered inaccurate?
            
            Substance is most important from what I read.

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            1. 91

               Millionaire Tipsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Use only the scale and the examples provided on Mechanical Turk when you rate these hubs. That is the only way to avoid straying away from the guidelines.
               
               I do think that they try to use hubs that clearly fit the rating scale in the test (although opinions can vary), and they probably do allow for some leeway, although I am not sure how much or if they do at all. You don't have to get 100% to pass.

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               1. 91

                  Kain 360posted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  Yes I was going to say because the difference between 7 and 8 is not a massive difference compared to say a 4 to 8.
                  
                  8 has a rating description while 7 does not.
                  
                  Review and Summary of On The Waterfront got a 4 on substance. I feel like it could have been higher, but there is no media present or anything else besides text. Plus it's not as long as other examples ( could have went in to more detail I suppose).
                  
                  EDIT:
                  
                  I noticed that article was only 250 words. Not long compared to the contacts one that had over 800 words with good substance etc.

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3. 88

   Cardisaposted 10 years ago

   I don't understand why only people from the US can rate for Hubpages when (1) you don't have to be from the US to write and earn here and, (2) you don't have to be from the US to earn from MTurk. Makes no sense to me.

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      IzzyMposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      +1

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4. 73

   relacheposted 10 years ago

   http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/ … ical-turk/

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   1. 59

      MelissaBarrettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      ROFLMAO...
      
      If I were working for "1.20-5.00 an hour", I'd slit my wrists. Assuming that whatever massive brain injury that I would have had to sustain to work for that wage hadn't left me incapable of finding them.
      
      Whoever writes this kind of crap isn't knowledgeable of anything involved with turking, so likely would earn 1.20 an hour... and be laughed at for doing so.

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5. 71

   Marie Flintposted 10 years ago

   I had been asked by Hub Pages several months ago to join Mechanical Turk for pay because my assessments at the site through the Hub Hopper had a high accuracy. Well, I finally found Mechanical Turk weeks after the invitation and took the qualification test.  it's not hard, and examples are given of good, medium, and poor qualities. If you have a decent command of English (spelling, grammar, etc.) and recognize paragraph organization, you should do well. You don't have to take all the tests on one day, but Hub Pages DOES want you to evaluate each of the 15 test hubs presented--this is where I fell short. I didn't like a couple of the hubs, so I didn't evaluate them. You can skip hubs on the internal Hub Hopper, if you wish, but don't skip any of the test hubs. Just do your best and you should be ok. Go ahead and take the assessment, you might enjoy rating. Blessings!
   
   A P.S.: I am not doing hub ratings right now because I prefer to write them and help hubbers individually. The Hopper, in my opinion, is a little too impersonal to really help the hub author who is being evaluated, but that's just my opinion. As far as making money from it, I never got that far. I did make $10.84, however, by doing other surveys and things over a period of time. Although I had requested Hub Pages for permission to rate hubs through MT (a separate qualification icon is available for that), they never did. And, when I asked whether they had enough reviewers, they said they did (I think at the time there were about 450 reviewers). So, I just let it go. I think after you do enough hub ratings, you become more attuned as to what to look for, so you can build up some speed. It's not terribly lucrative, however; it broke down to something like 5 cents a hub. Maybe it's changed since then.

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   1. 91

      Kain 360posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for giving your experience.
      
      I need to prove to myself that I can do something like this. If I can get rid of some articles that are obviously crap, make money, and help make HubPages a better site, then I will be content in this regard.
      Too many people on HubPages have suffered because of other people coming on here with articles that were either artificially made, way too short, overly promotional etc..
      
      Of course other sites have suffered because of people posting copied content and bad content in general too. But HubPages was one of them...
      
      It's unfortunate too see some of the great hubbers suffer because of corrupt people....
      
      And some people do that article spinning crap....
      
      Again thanks for the input.
      
      If the articles in the test are anything like the examples shown, I believe I can potentially pass. First I need to get a Mechanical Turk account first and figure out how to sort everything out. Just researching everything lately.

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6. 0

   epsonok0posted 10 years ago

   Funny enough I see that two of my traffic sources are from Mechanical Turk and I wonder why. Where on there site is a link to my hubs?

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      MelissaBarrettposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Nowhere...
      
      But if you use contextual links to your other hubs, it is entirely possible that a rater followed those links to see where they go.

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         epsonok0posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         aha, the hub i am referring to is my first use of a link to a related hub. I was always scared to do it because as we all know your views can drop hard and stay that way if you do the wrong thing. I always use no follow but in that case i did not as it is my own hub. So now that makes sense.

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