🐈
» Forums » Coffee Break » Re: A look back at 2022, and a badge for our ...
Page options
StanG
Community Manager
Community Manager

A look back at 2022, and a badge for our members during 2022!

Hey everyone,

 

We've launched our 2022 Celebration badge today for those who signed in and participated last year (You'll receive it in the next 72-96 hours). In addition to building cool badges, we pulled together some community stats we wanted to share. The Upwork Community grew so much in 2022 with new faces, new contributor programs, launching Academy and expanding Events, improved product release notes, 100+ groups.... I could go on and on. All of you help make this possible, so thank you for continuing to show up, providing your feedback and ideas, and helping build such a rapidly growing space for all of Upwork to come together.

 

End of year infographic - wide.png

 

And the badge our 2022 members will be receiving!

 

years-end (1).png

You can check out your badge page here

*Edit - We got a bit delayed on sending out the badge itself, so allow until Friday for it to process and everyone to receive it!

26 REPLIES 26
williamtcooper
Community Member

Hey Stan, what type of badge? The badges that we already have in our Community Profiles so something new?

The link at the end is to the your Community profile badges list, so I reckon it will be one of those.

Community profiles, correct.

Got it in my Profile several days back. Thanks!

m_terrazas
Community Member

Honestly, the idea of forum badges seems to me one of the worst ideas you could have come up with.


The only thing it has achieved is that the forum is filled with absurd posts. People writing for the sake of writing, answering nonsense just for the sake of writing, copying and pasting other freelancers' answers, giving bad advice because they don't have the remotest idea of how the platform works. All because they think the badges will show up on their profiles and help them get more visibility and attract customers.

 

And on top of that, since it occurs to you to make a post in which you cannot respond directly to the commentator, we can only hope that they read what we have commented.

 

I don't know what badges I have, and I really don't care. What I have always tried to do in the forum is to find information, help as much as possible and laugh for a while when possible.

 

And another thing more. A little sick of people who use the forum to promote themselves without anyone stopping them.

a_lipsey
Community Member

Well, I can see that the goal is quantity over quality. Well done then. 

colettelewis
Community Member

With respect, Stan, who the **edited for Community Guidelines** cares?  I would genuinely love to know why you are pushing this. I would genuinely love to know why you think that these totally meaningless (and ugly) badges should impress anyone over the age of four years old. They have no value in any respect - with design and meaning at an all time derivative low.  

I think part of it is simply a cultural difference - people from the US seems to be more inclined to like shiny kindergarden badges, whereas people in other countries only know them from their kindergarden days and don't expect them to appear in what can be considered a professional setting. (I'm sure I just offended millions of people, so there you go.)

The only interesting thing about the badges is the insight they give into all the newbies asking how to find a job, that they have done everything, that they need help, etc., and you can see that they didn't even take a single learning path. 

A badge just because the year ended? Right. 

It may not be for everybody, and that’s okay. Badges and achievements isn't something we've invented. It's a part of many online communities and many people see value in them. As we've added new features and experiences into Community, we've seen a tremendous uptick in members participating, taking Academy courses and learning paths, signing up for events, and more. A year ago we had less than .2% of active upwork users visiting Community on a monthly basis, now we're hovering around 3%. In turn, those who are in Community are, on average, seeing better success on Upwork. Did badges do all? Nah, but they are part of the overall experience.

Plus some of us grew up playing Pokemon, and we like the concept that we just gotta catch 'em all.

At the same time that the badges were introduced, Upwork started sending emails to all new freelancers saying that the first step to getting hired is to introduce yourself in the community. Wouldn't that account for the increase in new users? And now, every second post in the "New to Upwork" forum is just somebody saying, "I'm new here, give me a job" with a moderator copy/pasting the same response over and over. (It seems to me that the copy/pasted information is what Upwork should be emailing to newbies as "the first step", but what do I know?) Meanwhile, others are making irrelevant (and often plagiarised) blog-type posts just for the sake of getting a badge, and one person is being allowed to spam practically every thread just to promote himself. 

We measure pretty much everything that we introduce, so we're defintely looking at the individual parts as well as the whole of Community. I believe we're kicking off some improved Onboarding steps within Upwork itself to help introduce Academy and Community to new users, so it may even get busier with the questions (sorry!) but that's why we separate the New to Upwork forum, not everyone wants to be part of the welcome wagon 24/7, that's alright. 

If you got specific concerns w/ users, feel free to shoot me a message, happy to dig into it.

 

 

The forums I belong to are grown up and well organized where conversations are generally rational and helpful. The badges have done absolutely nothing for me except increase my exasperation levels, and I think I can confidently say that most of the people here, who have tried to help new freelancers without self-promotion, or trying to pretend they are part of the Upwork staff, would agree with me - but then of course, they also belong to a rational and intelligent section of society. 

sullivanliz
Community Member

...

StanG
Community Manager
Community Manager

┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼█┼█┼█┼█┼█┼█┼█┼█┼█
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼█┼█████████████████┼█
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼█┼█████████████████████┼█
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼█┼█████████████████████████┼█
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼█████████████████████████████┼█
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼█████████████████████████████████
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼███████████████████████████████┼
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼███████████████████████████████████
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼█████████████████████████████████┼
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼█████████████████████████████████████
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼███████████████████████████████████┼
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼███████████████████████████████████████
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼█████████████████████████████████████┼
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼▒▒███████████████████████████████████
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼▒▒▒▒█████████████████████████████████┼
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼▒▒░░▒██████████████████████████████████
██┼┼┼┼▒▒▒▓▓░▒▒████████████████████████████████┼
██▒▒▒▒▒▒▒█▓▒▒▒█████████████████████████████████
┼▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒███████████████████████████████┼
┼┼▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒░░▒▒█████████████████████████████┼
┼┼┼▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░▒▒█████████████████████████████
┼┼┼┼▒▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░▒▒███████████████████████████┼
┼┼┼┼┼▒▒▒▒▒▒▒░░▒▒▒████████████████████████████
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼▒▒█▒▒▒▒▒▒█████████████████████████
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼▒▒▒▒┼┼┼┼▒▒█▒█████████████▒▒█▒┼██┼
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼▒▒▒▒▒▒▒█┼█┼███┼█┼▒▒▒▒▒▒▒┼┼
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼▒▒▒▒▒▒┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼▒▒▒▒▒▒┼┼

I have no idea what this is supposed to show or demonstrate. 

When every new freelancer is told to go to the community to introduce himself, it should come as no surprise that the quantity is increasing. 

 Does this, whatever it is, register a hike in Upwork's inclome? 

In terms of freelancer irritation you have scored 100% and counting. 

 

I have to thank you for your upvote which scores me yet another meaningless, derivative badge - but you failed to answer my questions, which were neither pointless nor rhetorical. 

25005175
Community Member

Is this the ASCII equivalent of answering via interpretive dance?

m_terrazas
Community Member


Stan G wrote:

┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼█┼█┼█┼█┼█┼█┼█┼█┼█
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼█┼█████████████████┼█
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼█┼█████████████████████┼█
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼█┼█████████████████████████┼█
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼█████████████████████████████┼█
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼█████████████████████████████████
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼███████████████████████████████┼
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼███████████████████████████████████
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼█████████████████████████████████┼
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼█████████████████████████████████████
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼███████████████████████████████████┼
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼███████████████████████████████████████
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼█████████████████████████████████████┼
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼▒▒███████████████████████████████████
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼▒▒▒▒█████████████████████████████████┼
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼▒▒░░▒██████████████████████████████████
██┼┼┼┼▒▒▒▓▓░▒▒████████████████████████████████┼
██▒▒▒▒▒▒▒█▓▒▒▒█████████████████████████████████
┼▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒███████████████████████████████┼
┼┼▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒░░▒▒█████████████████████████████┼
┼┼┼▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░▒▒█████████████████████████████
┼┼┼┼▒▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░▒▒███████████████████████████┼
┼┼┼┼┼▒▒▒▒▒▒▒░░▒▒▒████████████████████████████
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼▒▒█▒▒▒▒▒▒█████████████████████████
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼▒▒▒▒┼┼┼┼▒▒█▒█████████████▒▒█▒┼██┼
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼▒▒▒▒▒▒▒█┼█┼███┼█┼▒▒▒▒▒▒▒┼┼
┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼▒▒▒▒▒▒┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼▒▒▒▒▒▒┼┼


That you are in a second childhood seems very good to me, but something like that when the rest of us are commenting on how disastrous the issue of badges seems to us in a serious way, it seems to me that it goes further.
That you are hovering around 3% of new freelancers who visit the forum just because you "recommend" it and to earn some badges and make silly or copied comments or to introduce themselves or to ask for a job, really doesn't tell me anything more than what you want is that there is a lot of activity in the forum regardless of the quality it had before.
And, I repeat, spam and self-promotion, see if you do something about it.

a_lipsey
Community Member

I will believe the data when you release it raw for us to actually analyze and see. You say users who come to the forum statistically do better. You a say a lot of things about the benefits of what Upwork does, but you don't release data. It's just a marketing ploy. 

 

And I stand by what I say about the quality of information on this forum. You've chased away regular contributors, including myself, who actually provided accurate and useful information, in exchange for people who are trying to sell their own freelance courses or self promote and don't give any actionable, real, or useful advice. 

 

So I'm glad the numbers are what you want. But I don't believe that this forum is useful for people who want to understand how to use Upwork, which is why so many people ask questions in other places on the internet, to get REAL, actionable advice. 

StanG
Community Manager
Community Manager

What kind of data are you interested in? We're starting to look into what type of public dashboard we could provide which is more geared towards Upwork overall, but happy to see what we can provide for the Community as well. I'm overly transparent, but also have limits of what we can and can't share.

Well you shared a graph without any explanation what it is. Maybe one has to be very computer literate or graph literate to understand it, but I don't. I expect more inclusivity from a forum moderator. 

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who doesn't understand what it means. Why are you posting something that people don't understand? What is the point?

sofia2008_0-1674499625185.png

You mean that graph?

25005175
Community Member

How about client satisfaction metrics?

lizablau
Community Member

I wish you'd focus more on fixing the terrible usability in the forums (which was fine before somebody decided it needed a "redesign") instead of these silly and pointless badges.  

virtualbrix
Community Member

Great Year!

kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Hi All,

Our goal is to increase awareness so more people can benefit from the resources and opportunities this Community can offer.

I understand there are concerns about increased posts from new users. That’s what the team of moderators I lead is for: to help support users in their journey. Once we determine a post is inappropriate or in the wrong location, we’ll take action. If you see it before we do, feel free to flag it using the “Notify Moderator” option.

That said, it is not against our Community Guidelines for members to share their successes, achievements, experience, and goals or proactively offer help to others. It’s also perfectly fine to ask for help and feedback and to use the forums and groups to network and connect. That’s what Community is for. 

What we don’t want is gatekeeping in the forums. 

As long as a member doesn’t knowingly violate our guidelines, they are welcome here and deserve to be treated with respect no matter where they’re from, what their experience of Upwork is or what brought them to Community. 

There are many ways to use Upwork and participate in the Upwork Community. Approaches may differ, and members may disagree, but that’s okay. 

 

Being rude and publicly attacking another member or member of staff based on their approach and experience is not okay. 


After working with this and other communities for a decade, I’ve noticed people tend to resist change and often are skeptical about changes that we later see them embrace. We understand that and empathize — your constructive feedback is valid and appreciated. 

 

We collect feedback and track metrics in many ways as we move forward and improve. As I know from my experience and as we can see from our metrics, historically, a very small subset of Upwork’s active users has been represented in this Community. As stated above, that will be changing. 


With that, we’ll be closing this thread. As we have more metrics to share, both related to the Community and Upwork overall, we’ll be posting them in separate topics, announcements, and dashboards.

Thanks! 

~ Valeria
Upwork
Latest Articles
Learning Paths