Anyone else noticed those "likely to get hired soon" fire things on profiles?

[petra_r]

When did this start to happen?

What next? "SALE - Freelancer half price this week??"

Plus the irony of the "call to action" being "Flag as inappropriate"

[petra_r]

REALLY?????????????

you have GOT to be joking

What next? A teddy bear??

[colettelewis]

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Petra R wrote:

REALLY?????????????

you have GOT to be joking

What next? A teddy bear??

_____________________________

OMG - can we please have a head-hits-wall emoji. 

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[colettelewis]

In Brit parlance, I think Upwork is taking the piss ... 

[mwiggenhorn]

I'm sorry but it looks like a dating website now.

ETA_ Not that I've actually ever seen a dating website...

[petra_r]

I made my own...

[renata101]

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Petra R wrote:

I made my own...

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Ooooooh. How do I get one of those?

[colettelewis]

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Mary W wrote:

I'm sorry but it looks like a dating website now.

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__________________________________

If I were looking for a date, this sort of "incentive" would make me run a mile. 

[feed_my_eyes]

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Mary W wrote:

I'm sorry but it looks like a dating website now.

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Don't give them any ideas - they might introduce "swipe right" and "swipe left" features on our portfolios. 

Seriously, though - stars and rockets? What kind of juvenile nonsense is this? Please, make it stop.

[renata101]

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Christine A wrote:

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Mary W wrote:

I'm sorry but it looks like a dating website now.

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Don't give them any ideas - they might introduce "swipe right" and "swipe left" features on our portfolios. 

Seriously, though - stars and rockets? What kind of juvenile nonsense is this? Please, make it stop.

It's certainly giving me ideas. And so is Petra's custom approach. 

I edit documents prepared in a typesetting system called LaTeX (described by those in the know as "the de facto standard for the communication and publication of scientific documents," which basically just boils down to "the thing you use instead of Word if you have to write equations.") 

Maybe I could get something like this.
I want the text to read: "I work in Latex."

[feed_my_eyes]

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Renata S wrote:

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I'd like to get something like this.
I want the text to read "I work in LaTeX."

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Nice. I want a Catwoman too. No reason, though - just because.

[mwiggenhorn]

Maybe they'll add a catchy little jingle next...

[feed_my_eyes]

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Mary W wrote:

Maybe they'll add a catchy little jingle next...

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Or maybe they'll stop wasting time on crap that isn't needed and focus on aspects of the website that aren't working, like the chat function. (One can dream, right?)

[kfarnell]

Does anyone there actually understand the messages such icons send? And if so, would they like to explain why a male orgasm is a preferable message to the previous?

[renata101]

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Kim F wrote:
Does anyone there actually understand the messages such icons send? And if so, would they like to explain why a male orgasm is a preferable message to the previous?

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[mtngigi]

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Lena E wrote:

We shared your feedback about the fire icon and the "flag as inappropriate" link, but what is exactly is a weeping star? 

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It's one of the icons that for reasons Upwork does not grasp, looks like nothing more than cartoonish, childish nonsense. How is it that Upwork has taken to inserting itself so much into our freelance business? How is it that Upwork can decide to throw any old ridiculous and embarrassing thing on my profile? Why are you doing this to us? How can you not understand that clients will be scratching their heads? Clients already have a hard enough time maneuvering this site and you want to make things even more confusing for them? How about you give back much of what you've taken away from clients in 2019 and put things to right. Everything Upwork has done lately has done nothing but ruin this site.

"Flag as inappropriate" indeed. I know where I'd like to put that flag. 

[alphazomgy]

Lol I noticed this new feature as well.

But I like it!

The purpose of emojis is to communicate, and they do a much better job of that than words do. And they look better than words.

Here's the larger issue: Why is Upwork still releasing updates without warning freelancers?

Is it that hard to post "upcoming update on May 14th" or something? 

Does Upwork not realize that things like this are important to us? (I know this has been brought up in the past!) 

[sergio-soria]

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Alexander B wrote:

But I like it!

The purpose of emojis is to communicate, and they do a much better job of that than words do. And they look better than words.

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That's the whole point. I can say that if you use emojis or any other icon in the wrong way you can communicate exactly the opposite. The "fire sale" icon was exactly doing that, and now a rocket? I remember years ago I had a friend who used a rocket to represent the idea that she was going on vacation and didn't care about being needed at work.

[wendy_writes]

Icons have their place; on our profiles is not one of the places.

Unless icons are used to draw attention to specific sections on a web or landing page they are completely lacking in professional demeanor.  Just as an FYI, the icons most successfully used on web or landing pages are not cartoonish generic ones. 

U. can use icons on anything they want as long as it does not impact the brand and image I chose to display as a professional.

Get this amateur nonsense off my profile page.

[mwiggenhorn]

Wendy - 1,000 kudos.  I am a professional working exclusively for attorneys and I HATE that my profile is beginning to look like a cheap dating website.

[colettelewis]

Another 1000 to Wendy. 

I'm  beginning to think that Upwork actually wants to rid the site of its professionals ...

[colettelewis]

What  I can't understand is that Upwork has obviously gone to a lot of trouble (and expense) to get really good graphics for its home page: nice colours, good design, and real freelancers and then it spoils its whole image and ours by cheapening its freelancers with bad icons that don't even have the merit of being original. 

[renata101]

Another 1000 from me, Wendy. I think UW keeps forgetting that as freelancers we are their clients. We pay to use the platform and we should have a choice about what appears beside our heads. I'm not an Amazon product and I don't appreciate UW's continued attempts to market me as one. 

This feels like the location map all over again. 

[petra_r]

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Renata S wrote:

 think UW keeps forgetting that as freelancers we are their clients.

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To be blunt: Upwork is "not forgetting" that we aren't. the clients are.

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Renata S wrote:

We pay to use the platform

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Sort of. We pay for connects / memberships. The rest of the money comes from clients. sure, "on paper" we are the ones who pay the fee, but in reality, all the money for every contract is paid by the client.

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Renata S wrote:

 I'm not an Amazon product

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Again, realistically, that is pretty much what we are. Products on a shelf. THAT part I don't actually have a major problem with, it is what it is.

But when Upwork promotes the "product" in such a (bleep) way, I really am not happy.

[prestonhunter]

Freelancers are not the clients.

Clients are the clients.

Freelancers are the freelancers.

It is accurate to think of freelancers as the "products" that Upwork provides.

I don't have a problem if somebody refers to freelancers as "Upwork users".

If you want to get very technical, maybe you could say that freelancers are among Upwork's "customers."

But I think it would be confusing if we referred to freelancers and clients both as "clients."

I think of freelancers as Upwork's "partners" in earning money. Earning money from paying clients.

[colettelewis]

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Preston H wrote:

Freelancers are not the clients.

Clients are the clients.

Freelancers are the freelancers.

It is accurate to think of freelancers as the "products" that Upwork provides.

I don't have a problem if somebody refers to freelancers as "Upwork users".

If you want to get very technical, maybe you could say that freelancers are among Upwork's "customers."

But I think it would be confusing if we referred to freelancers and clients both as "clients."

I think of freelancers as Upwork's "partners" in earning money. Earning money from paying clients.

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______________________

If freelancers are not Upwork clients then they should not be charging us (in Europe) VAT for services. As they provide us with a service, then force majeure, we are their clients. 

[wendy_writes]

Preston, the term "business partner" will make U blanch.  By almost every proper definition of the words, the meaning includes a "sharing of management and profits". 

We, as FLers, have neither.

[browersr]

Well, this is all fun with words, but I actually feel like for the most part freelancers and their clients are more "customers" of Upwork versus "clients" of Upwork. By in large, the only true client relationship here is between the freelancer and the person/company paying for them to provide a professional service. Where someone can be an Upwork client is perhaps more in the sense of them using a talent specialist to find freelancers for them or using UW for payroll services, etc. Most relationships aren't this type though, so I'd say again that in most cases "customer" is the more appropriate term to define the relationship to UW. 

It is true that both a freelancer and their client are customers of UW. However, the balance of power is not the same. This is simple supply and demand which will immediately and forever tip the scales fairly heavily in the client/customer direction. As much as UW has to have both in order to be able to run their business, they are correct if they put more resources and time into the client/customer side of the business. However, clients and freelancers are not the same and do not provide the same level of value to the platform. From the freelancer side UW does not do enough to differentiate those that cost the platform versus those that profit it. I don't know enough about the client side to know if the same is true there. 

None of this of course has anything to do with fire icons. I don't think these kinds of "throw it against the wall and see what sticks" initiatives have anything to do with a freelancer or client or customer or anything really. This is just the way UW does things and always has. Those behaviors don't seem likely to change any time soon either. 

[wendy_writes]

Well said, Scott. "for the most part freelancers and their clients are more "customers" of Upwork versus "clients" of Upwork. By in large, the only true client relationship here is between the freelancer and the person/company paying for them to provide a professional service."

You went on to write "From the freelancer side UW does not do enough to differentiate those that cost the platform versus those that profit it."

I think this will be the secondary result of the new connect system ... when and if there is proper transparency and a published explanation of exactly what parameters are used to determine number of connects per RFP.  Those who have of been around U for any length of time know better than to trust CS or cockamamie U algorithms.  And by "those of us" I'm referring to the FLers that bring a profit to the platform.

[renata101]

I think whether we are customers or clients is academic in terms of the amount of weight our complaints or suggestions about this carry.

There is a power dynamic if we actually need the money we derive from working on the platform. Most of us do because we have a need to keep the income incoming. Most of us aren't work hobbiests. 

As for being marketed like an Amazon product, well, maybe you can spot the similarities. 

Since there needs to be some excitement generated about our availability, we have this:

Amazon has this:



To give some sense that our "customers" are happy and we are good products, we have this:


and this:



Amazon gives you this:

[dzadza]

I just got a blue rocket on my profile... things are getting funnier by the minute, lol

[allergywriter]

awwww I wanted to see your blue rocket, but your profile is not public

[dzadza]

I'm happy to present it!
apparently, I'm flying around in my brand new blue rocket - getting noticed

[mwiggenhorn]

The cute little things seem to have disappeared from my profile.  whew!

ETA: Maybe because I was marked as Unavailable?

[dzadza]

I'm still flying around in my rocket 😉

[wendy_writes]

Has this infantile incompetent attempt at 'cutsey' marketing been retired?

If not - WHEN?

[allergywriter]

looks like Sanja has lost her rocket

[dzadza]

I wish... I believe those funny icons are visible only from the search pages - I can't see it on my "regular" profile

..and I just checked - Wendy, your profile is still on fire 😉

[wendy_writes]

ARGH!!!  U., Get that nonsense OFF of my profle.

Sanja, my new favorite emoji ... reserved for U stupid stuff -

[renatoss]

...so, you get a ''rocket'' to fly to the ''stars'' ending to be on ''fire'', because you got some technical dificutlies and got burned/died trying to reach for the stars, perfection ?  or what's the story behind this journey?

[dzadza]

Space.... the final frontier...