TOS violation for telling one particular agency / user to not apply ?

[6a182ed6]

One particular [ Agency Name / Person Name ] spam applies to all my job postings, without ever taking any contract. [9+ jobs]

The questions resolves around the following:

Is including a line of the form "[ Agency Name / Person Name ]: Do Not Apply" in the body of. a job posting allowed.

I am being told this is not allowed. However, no one has provided me a screen shot of which clause of the TOS it violates (despite me asking multiple times).

Are moderators allowed to ban stuff not explicitly banned in the TOS ?

[NikolaS]

Hi there,

Thank you for reaching out to us. Please refer to section 3 of Upwork Terms of Use for more information about actions that aren't allowed on Upwork. Specifically, check out section 3.3.  that talks about how treating others unfairly isn't allowed on Upwork.
I also see you have a ticket opened regarding your concern. If you have further questions or need further assistance feel free to follow up on your ticket directly and our team will be happy to assist you. 

[6a182ed6]

Which one of the bullets does it violate? To the best of my knowledge, it is lawful to discriminate against someone who has spammed you. I.e. I am not discriminating against a class of people based on gender / race / ... ; I am discriminating against a particular agency / person because in the past they spammed me 9+ times.

>

• express an unlawful preference in a job post or proposal
• unlawfully discriminate against someone
• incite or encourage violence
• post personal identifying information or other sensitive, private data about another person
• spam other users with proposals or invites. This includes posting the same job several times at once and contacting people you connected with on Upwork outside of Upwork without their permission
• make or demand bribes or payments for anything other than the work
• ask for or demand free work – you can’t ask freelancers to submit work for little or no payment as part of a proposal bid or competition
• request a fee in order to submit a proposal
• request or provide services that primarily concern making purchases on behalf of another, including the purchase of cryptocurrency or NFTs.

[AveryO]

Hi TongKe, 

The team reached out to you through this support ticket with more information on why they had to take some actions on your job post. They have also explained in detail what you can do when you do not wish to engage with a particular agency or freelancer. Please check your support ticket for more information, as I can see the team has answered your questions. 

May I also please request to please refrain from posting the same topic in several different threads as this is considered spamming and is against the Community Guidelines.

[6a182ed6]

(Reposted here as other post somehow replied to original question instead of your post).

Avrey:

  Upwork support there is posting responses that do NOT answer the question=.

  They claim it violates TOS, but fails to state precisely which clause of the TOS it violates.

  Upwork TOS only bans ILLEGAL discrimination. I am not aware of any US law that forbids me from discriminating against a particular person at a particular agency for spamming.

==

  Since you have access to that thread, please read that thread and answer this: precisely which clause of the TOS do I violate when I request '[Specific Agency / Specific Person]: Do not apply'

[AveryO]

Hi ThongKe, 

I can see that the team already responded to your question, saying that the job post was removed for being unclear as it didn't provide information on the project. As for the future job post you intend to post, this is also not allowed because it may come across as discrimination and goes against the Upwork Terms of Service. Note that you can make a job post private and invite freelancers/agencies to apply to the job post. 
 
Kindly refer to your ticket for more information.

[6a182ed6]

You are repeating that thread without answering the question. In the Upwork TOS, there is a clause against Illegal Discrimination (i.e. on race, gender, ...)

There is no such clause against discrimination against a [ specific agency / specific person ] because the spammed me on 9+ jobs.

This is why I made a post here -- in the support ticket, Upwork staff were ignoring my question and repeating canned answers.

Do you atleast acknowledge that no one has answered the question yet? What specific clause of the TOS does discriminating against a [ specific agency / specific person ] violate? Because to the best of my knowledge, it is legal in the US to discriminate against a [ specific agency / specific person ] if they spam you 9+ times.

[yofazza]

Hi, I read the other thread.

It's understandable to think that UW is profiting from spam proposals. It's mostly true as well. But I'm more amused with the fact that the spammer is losing money. Unless, if they have unlimited connects from some shady methods like before, or they still have lots of connects from that time.

So maybe you can use this information to "let go"? [ Agency Name / Person Name ]: Do Not Apply  won't stop them from submitting a proposal if they don't read the job post.

[6a182ed6]

At $0.15 / connect, 1000 spam applications would only cost $150, which most agencies are happy to pay. Since even 1/1000 spam contracts land, they can probably break even.

I believe officially botting is against TOS (though in my experience it appears Upwork does not actually care).

I'm 99% sure they are NOT reading the job application. "[Agency Name / Person Name]: Do Not Apply" proves they are botting when they do apply.

[bobafett999]

Wouldn't it be very simple for you to ignore the proposals from that agency?

[6a182ed6]

As a matter of principle, spamming is bad; and the spammer, not the one being spammed should change their behaviour.

It is difficult to believe that current Upwork policies are:
  (1) freelancher spamming application = okay

  (2) clients calling out freelanchers for spamming = against TOS

[6a182ed6]

Avrey:

  Upwork support there is posting responses that do NOT answer the question=.

  They claim it violates TOS, but fails to state precisely which clause of the TOS it violates.

  Upwork TOS only bans ILLEGAL discrimination. I am not aware of any US law that forbids me from discriminating against a particular person at a particular agency for spamming.

==

  Since you have access to that thread, please read that thread and answer this: precisely which clause of the TOS do I violate when I request '[Specific Agency / Specific Person]: Do not apply'