Making money online is a rough and tumble game. There are scammer and spammers. There are con artists. And then there’s Amazon Mechnial Turk (AMT) -- the online version a sweatshop, but you know what you’re getting into. Right?
Well, sometimes. Since AMT is an on-demand workplace in which workers and “employers” can come from anywhere, there’s always a chance of a con artist ready to take advantage of workers by posting jobs they never pay for.
So, how do you protect yourself? One way is by using the online forums on Turker Nation (see my recent article) and one other excellent resource is Turkopticon. Turkopticon is a basically a big online database where workers can leave evaluations and feedback on Requesters.
Workers can rate Requesters in four different categories:
Fair (Fairness)
Fast (Speed of payment)
Pay (A decent pay for a job)
Comm (Communication)
While the ratings can be quite useful, the comments left by Providers are very useful. You just have to watch for contradictory feedback. I’ve see several very good Requesters get scathing reviews from Providers undeservedly. Some Providers just fail to or don’t want to follow directions and get annoyed when they find their work rejected.
If you have any questions about a Requester, this should be first or second stop to find out if they are legitimate.
The phrase is “Caveat emptor.” In this case it’s the worker that needs to beware.
Well, sometimes. Since AMT is an on-demand workplace in which workers and “employers” can come from anywhere, there’s always a chance of a con artist ready to take advantage of workers by posting jobs they never pay for.
So, how do you protect yourself? One way is by using the online forums on Turker Nation (see my recent article) and one other excellent resource is Turkopticon. Turkopticon is a basically a big online database where workers can leave evaluations and feedback on Requesters.
Workers can rate Requesters in four different categories:
Fair (Fairness)
Fast (Speed of payment)
Pay (A decent pay for a job)
Comm (Communication)
While the ratings can be quite useful, the comments left by Providers are very useful. You just have to watch for contradictory feedback. I’ve see several very good Requesters get scathing reviews from Providers undeservedly. Some Providers just fail to or don’t want to follow directions and get annoyed when they find their work rejected.
If you have any questions about a Requester, this should be first or second stop to find out if they are legitimate.
The phrase is “Caveat emptor.” In this case it’s the worker that needs to beware.
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