My proposals are archived!

[Petra R]

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@Virginia F wrote:

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If this is what happened with that job, your bid, and that client, that's a bad story, Petra. I think there might be more crickets for awhile.

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 Well, it seems it happens to our proposals day in, day out.

The thought that those people, who would not understand the finer details of translation (or programming, or design, or legal whatsit, or whatever your area of expertise may be) if they jumped up and bit them, whoosh in and decide to take our proposals (which we spend time on, and some pay money for) and remove them is making me so incredibly angry, especially when clients have little or no clear idea that it is happening.

Those so-called talent specialists are no such thing. They are not specialists in what the hundreds of thousands of freelancers in all the many different categories do and what their clients need.

This is Upwork stealing our time ( the time it takes to apply) and our Connects and in the case of freelancers who pay, our money.

AGAIN: Upwork, you can not take our money with one hand and then send those (BEEPS) in to secretly remove our proposals with the other hand. That simply, absolutely, can must not happen. It is wrong. It is underhand, and I am pretty certain the legality of such a business practice could be seriously questioned.

At any rate it is a deliberate, sly, secretive, unfair, evil, flat-handed, hard, insulting  slap in the face of the freelancers.

If you want clients to receive less deadbeat proposals, kick all the deadbeats off the beeping site and be done with it already. Taking my careful proposals and flushing them down the toilet at the hands of someone who has no clue what my clients need is not the solution.

THIS is NOT the way to go about it.

I am so angry I am literally foaming at the mouth.

[Lambertus L]

I am so thoroughly demoralized after reading this thread. I've been trying to get my foot in the door with Upwork for the last 5 months and have only been able to leverage two jobs so far. I've tried everything recommended (hey, I'm sure if you checked my profile you could find room for improvement so feel free to shout out anything that I could improve).

I've written long cover letters, short cover letters, 100% custom cover letters, pro-forma cover letters, bid high, bid low, bid in the middle, limited myself to one or two thoughtful proposals a day, and even tried going with dozens of template proposals daily to the point where I felt I was spamming, I always attach relevant work samples, and I've edited my profile at least half a dozen times. Nothing seems to really work.

To hear that my proposals are likely being filtered without the client's consent or knowledge by someone with questionable qualifications makes me wonder why I'm bothering with this platform...

[Virginia F]

"If you want clients to receive less deadbeat proposals, kick all the deadbeats off the beeping site and be done with it already"

That pretty much sums it up. Even though UW says it's getting harder to have a profile approved, I don't believe it. All you have to do is read newbie forum posts to know that UW will take anyone.

[Kathy T]

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@Virginia F wrote:

"If you want clients to receive less deadbeat proposals, kick all the deadbeats off the beeping site and be done with it already"

That pretty much sums it up. Even though UW says it's getting harder to have a profile approved, I don't believe it. All you have to do is read newbie forum posts to know that UW will take anyone.

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There's one OP, that I just replied to, (in the New to Upwork discussion section) who asks why can't I get a job. I looked at his profile, He has not a single word plus he has taken 2 tests with below average scores. yet he's able to send proposals. 

[Kathy T]

Petra - you know what? When a freelancer posts that they can not get a job, and their profile is good and complete, perhaps we can reply with a link to this discussion. 

[Baris A]

Remember when they were hiding jobs from freelancers after some number of top rated applications were received? Then they started to "not hide" them but there was a message from a mod saying they are still doing the experiment. This is the same experiment from what I understand from what a mod wrote here.

AND, there are NO talent specialists. There is an algorithm which was hiding jobs from freelancers, which is now hiding freelancers from clients.

[Wendy C]

Petra wrote "If you want clients to receive less deadbeat proposals, kick all the deadbeats off the beeping site and be done with it already. Taking my careful proposals and flushing them down the toilet at the hands of someone who has no clue what my clients need is not the solution."

That sez it all. I'm "foaming at the mouth" right along with her ... and every other professional who has seen this thread.

Upwork's behavior is unacceptable. Devious. Very possibly illegal. And will not be allowed to be pushed aside and ignored as is so often the methodology used to end discussions of this nature. 

We are a tenacious lot; that's how we survive and flourish as freelancers. We are also honest; none of the FLers who are so furious with this behavior cost Upwork a penny in 'neediness' or lost revenue.  We are the key sources of U's 20%, 10%, and 5% revenue stream.

[Maria T]

I have been following the thread without answering anyone because there are people here who, in addition to writing English correctly, explain everything in a detailed and precise way (Petra, you get the prize and I'm sorry about what happened to you)
It would be nice if @Dan R. and @Sarah H. (the clients) told us what explanations they have received from Upwork.
I see that no mod has followed with the thread and, really, what has happened to Petra is for give some explanation.
Angry, very angry !!

[Wendy C]

@ Maria, your English is very good so don't apologize, please.  Your opinions and comments are valuable - well thought out and accurate.  We'd all like to read U's 'explanation' to the clients in question.  

@ Baris, do you have actual proof that the misnamed 'talent' specialists are strictly algorithms or are you being brilliantly sarcastic? 

[Baris A]

I'm 100% sure they are not archiving "excess" proposals one by one by hand.