Amazon Mechanical Turk.... I have been there!

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   Dale Hydeposted 12 years ago

   Just a short update.  There has been a lot said about the use of Amazon Mechanical Turks to rate our hubs here on the site.
   
   I have been an Amazon Mechanical Turk for almost two weeks, give or take.  For some reason, I am not qualified to go for that much desired nickle (5 cents) to rate a HP article.  I have applied for the qualification but it has been elusive.
   
   However, I have been qualified for a ton of other options there.  Yes, you can make money there.  Is it worth it?  Not if you have any dollar value on your time.  I have tried many different types of "hits" as they call them on Amazon Mechanical Turk... A lot are surveys...lengthly...and some are search engine/URL related and lengthly. Some deal with psychology types of issues and such...One thing they all have in common, time consuming.
   
   Bottom line, once broke down and reviewed, you will average, at the most, one cent a minute for your time.  Maybe up to two cents a minute if you are fast at some of the stuff...  For me, 60 to 70 cents for an hour's worth of work is just embarrassing, lol.
   
   So there you have it... It is real, you can sign up, and you will not get rich.

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I used to do some hits over at Mechanical Turk. In fact before I started at HubPages I used to work on mostly writing hits. Rewriting paragraphs or writing a short article about whatever they wanted. I got where I could make 3 or 4 dollars an hour doing it. I'd actually say that it was what got me started writing. Once I discovered HubPages I didn't go back much. I haven't done a hit in many months.
      
      You have to take tests to work on some of the hits, and there are several tests that I couldn't pass. Apparently I wasn't that great at categorizing objects. It wasn't as easy as it sounded. No, you won't get rich at MT, but most likely you won't get rich here either.

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         Dale Hydeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I took some of the tests and passed most, but like you, failed some.  Overall it was very time consuming.  I am sure you could make upwards of the amounts you have mentioned.  I think I lack the patience.
         
         About getting rich here...all said and done, even with the removal of one sixth of my hubs after they were idled, I still manage a buck or two a day in revenue here without spending any additonal time at it.  No tweaking...Just let em ride.  I got burnt out trying to keep with with the Jones' as the saying goes, lol.

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   SmartAndFunposted 12 years ago

   LOL, I had the same experience. I signed up for a Amazon Mechanical Turk a couple of years ago and gave up very quickly. It didn't take long to figure out it is only worth it for people who live in very poor countries where 60 cents an hour is not a ridiculous wage. Makes me wonder just who these Americans are who are reviewing our hubs?

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      Dale Hydeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That is what I am thinking....our ratings are coming from people who probably can truly comprehend our language, lol.  However, one must go with the flow because there is no changing the flow here.

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      tussinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Maybe they are Americans living in 1802 when 60 cents could buy you a fancy lunch and a lap dance from Sweet Mabel at the old saloon.

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         SmartAndFunposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Ahhhh, Sweet Mabel, those were the days!

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         Pearldiverposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Sheesssh.... it Still costs .60 for a ham sandwich and a verrrry slow lap dance from Mabel 
         
         I believe the whole idea of the MT name came from one of her Turkish 'specials' 

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            Bronwyn J Hansenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            

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               Pearldiverposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Nah.... No One knows that end of Mabel.... I'm sorry... Wrong 'face' 

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            Dale Hydeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Love the sense of humor... I need that at times.

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   NathaNaterposted 12 years ago

   I've been wondering about Mturk and been considering doing it, but something was making not want to do it; it looked like it took considerable amount of time, as you say, and I noticed the pay was in cents. Thanks for the info.

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      Dale Hydeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You're welcome.

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   Tealparadiseposted 12 years ago

   Yeah, I used to do MTurk but the problem is that the pay just keeps going down down down because 3 cents per minute to someone starving across the globe is a fortune.  On one hand, I'm glad that people who desperately need the money have a way to get it.  On the other, services like Crowdflower etc are abusing it to make their payments as low as possible, while still charging a client a premium.
   
   If you want to make any money on MTurk, first you must be located in the US and second you need a collective helping you out, such as the MTurk subreddit.  ( www.reddit.com/r/HITsWorthTurkingFor/ )  Where people post about how long it took to do a HIT, and whether it was worth it, etc.
   
   On the other hand, I actually like the Hubpages HITs and was approved pretty quickly (key is to really look at how they graded the example articles), and since I enjoy looking at Hubs anyway it's pretty fun.

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      Dale Hydeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      As mentioned, I have not been approved to give the HP hubs a try, lol.  I am always one to jump in and give most anything a try and a chance.  I will keep trying to get my fingers into the HP hub "hits."  Thanks for sharing the additional information.

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         Tealparadiseposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Yeah just look really closely at what they're grading on, like one obvious scale is
         no pix <<< bad pix <<<< good pix <<<< self-made good pix

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   jenuboukaposted 12 years ago

   I did Amazon turk for awhile, long before HP offered some kind of penance for hopping.  If we are apart of HP shouldn't we have some kind of way to just be accepted, one would think.  Perhaps, those who have been here for a year and have produced quality hubs.  I checked out the HP jobs there and once I saw you needed to qualify, and only getting paid .05 cents, forget it.
   
   That site is mind numbing, pays horrible, I do it sometimes as it can go toward any Amazon purchases, I can only take so much of cheap labor, I did; however, once made enough to cover a shipping cost.
   
   Click worker is better, or click n work if anyone is interested in that kind of work, but again, it is slow, slow earnings.

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      Dale Hydeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for sharing your experience as well as the additional information.  I shall check into a few of your suggestions.

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         jenuboukaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         also check out cloud source..it's a little better

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            Dale Hydeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks Jenubouka.

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      NathaNaterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      "...I can only take so much of cheap labor..." Amen to that.

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