Sep 9, 2019 08:42:28 AM by Renata S
NYT recently published article that discusses the complexity of the issue:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/07/us/college-cheating-papers.html
Unfortunately, some of the details of this aren't really news to anyone who works in writing or editing on UpWork. Two years ago, I found the profile of an FL (or most likely a farmer) who had made 20K taking care of other people's homework. I've seen client pages that clearly show people initiating multiple contracts for school assignments, complete with rubrics and assignment sheets.
Sep 9, 2019 08:54:13 AM by Sheila F
I've seen programming assignments posted, and flagged them.I haven't seen any lately but then I don't read as many job posts as when I first started on Upwork.
Sep 9, 2019 10:21:26 AM by Renata S
Sheila F wrote:I've seen programming assignments posted, and flagged them.I haven't seen any lately but then I don't read as many job posts as when I first started on Upwork.
I've also seen clients looking to hire freelancers to handle aeronautics engineering problem sets, prepare papers on architectural safety assessment methods (this one included a course rubric), and complete nursing assignments. I've also received invites for homework assignments.
Sep 9, 2019 09:32:03 AM by Phyllis G
I always flag academic fraud when I see it, which is pretty much every time I look at job posts. Often, I find more than one in a single session. If it's so easy for us to recognize these frauds, why is it so difficult for UW?
Sep 9, 2019 11:08:37 AM by Phyllis G
Luce N wrote:I hope UW takes action when you flag this type of offers?
Luce, I don't know whether or not they do. I get an automated message thanking me for flagging it. I don't follow up to see because I'm not willing to spend my time and energy that way AND it's not a problem that will ever be resolved by following up individual instances. They need a systemic remedy. I flag individual instances as a civic duty.
Sep 9, 2019 11:13:31 AM by Luce N
I know all about the "thanks for flagging" message, I regularly do my civic duty too!
Sep 9, 2019 10:05:41 AM by Sheila F
Upwork could offer a bounty for reporting fraud. Payment could be in connects. The first person to flag a post gets the bounty. New freelancers would learn to spot fraud, earning a few connects and it wouldn't cost Upwork anything beyond the time it takes to review the post. But then there needs to be something in place to keep people from reporting posts just for the connects and wasting Upwork employee time. What do they do now? Do they review every report or wait for multiple reports for a given post?
Sep 9, 2019 11:10:46 AM by Luce N
Sheila F wrote:Upwork could offer a bounty for reporting fraud. Payment could be in connects. The first person to flag a post gets the bounty. New freelancers would learn to spot fraud, earning a few connects and it wouldn't cost Upwork anything beyond the time it takes to review the post. But then there needs to be something in place to keep people from reporting posts just for the connects and wasting Upwork employee time. What do they do now? Do they review every report or wait for multiple reports for a given post?
Sheila, at first the connects bounty sounds fine, but some smart scammer would organise some system by which a "client" would offer a "job" just for his friend to flag it and get free connects!
Sep 9, 2019 12:08:29 PM by Preston H
re: "If it's so easy for us to recognize these frauds, why is it so difficult for UW?"
Don't underestimate the superiority of human intelligence relative to computers.
Ultimately, the only thing inside a computer is zeros and ones.
What you may think is easy can be quite difficult to do using only zeroes and ones.
Just look at how difficult it is for Upwork to implement automated systems that identify the locations of users, or automatically recognize information on driver's licenses.
And that is if we assume that significant effort is being put into this.
Sep 9, 2019 03:42:16 PM by Renata S
Preston H wrote:re: "If it's so easy for us to recognize these frauds, why is it so difficult for UW?"
Don't underestimate the superiority of human intelligence relative to computers.
Yes, but we flag and ticket them for human consideration on UW and nothing happens. You can see obvious instances of clients continually asking for projects where they've attached their assignment sheets.
Sep 9, 2019 03:50:29 PM by Nichola L
Renata S wrote:
Preston H wrote:re: "If it's so easy for us to recognize these frauds, why is it so difficult for UW?"
Don't underestimate the superiority of human intelligence relative to computers.
Yes, but we flag and ticket them for human consideration on UW and nothing happens. You can see obvious instances of clients continually asking for projects where they've attached their assignment sheets.
_____________________________________
It would seem that human consideration on Upwork condones academic fraud despite the lip service paid to fraud in the ToS which is ambiguous to say the least. It is possible to weed out the fraudsters,the farmers and the essay mills. Unfortunately many of these people are generating doubtful income for this company and so at the risk of rocking the corporate boat - nothing whatsoever is done to stop this.
Sep 9, 2019 05:44:43 PM Edited Sep 10, 2019 07:25:21 AM by Renata S
Nichola L wrote:
Renata S wrote:
Preston H wrote:re: "If it's so easy for us to recognize these frauds, why is it so difficult for UW?"
Don't underestimate the superiority of human intelligence relative to computers.
Yes, but we flag and ticket them for human consideration on UW and nothing happens. You can see obvious instances of clients continually asking for projects where they've attached their assignment sheets.
_____________________________________
It would seem that human consideration on Upwork condones academic fraud despite the lip service paid to fraud in the ToS which is ambiguous to say the least. It is possible to weed out the fraudsters,the farmers and the essay mills. Unfortunately many of these people are generating doubtful income for this company and so at the risk of rocking the corporate boat - nothing whatsoever is done to stop this.
I will say that the posts sometimes get shut down, at least temporarily. This normally provies the clients with enough information about what not to say that they can successfully repost their requests moments later with less obvious wording. Clients aren't shut down for posting them and nothing happens to the FLs who take them.
Jul 7, 2020 07:26:17 AM Edited Jul 7, 2020 08:37:01 AM by David M
It would seem that human consideration on Upwork condones academic fraud despite the lip service paid to fraud in the ToS which is ambiguous to say the least. It is possible to weed out the fraudsters,the farmers and the essay mills. Unfortunately many of these people are generating doubtful income for this company and so at the risk of rocking the corporate boat - nothing whatsoever is done to stop this.
I have recently become more and more vexed at the farmer outsourcing issue that has been going on forever but is getting perpetually worse.
The algorithms favor the farmers whose profiles are showcased or highlighted to new clients both via direct email and in search.
I know the ToS allows for outsourcing in Fixed Price contracts, but I found this clause which might be able to stop them:
Jul 7, 2020 09:04:20 AM by David M
Mark F wrote:
This seems like an awful waste of time.
I agree, it is a waste of time especially if it doesn't affect one personally.
I'm hoping to see some responses from those who it does affect and any feedback towards a solution going forward.
In other words I don't simply want to ignore the issue as it's not going to go away, it's only getting worse...
Jul 7, 2020 03:29:33 PM by Mark F
David M wrote:
Mark F wrote:
This seems like an awful waste of time.I agree, it is a waste of time especially if it doesn't affect one personally.
I'm hoping to see some responses from those who it does affect and any feedback towards a solution going forward.
In other words I don't simply want to ignore the issue as it's not going to go away, it's only getting worse...
Sounds like an interesting hobby.
I don't see how it affects you. I can see how you might think it does but my guess is that anyone willing to hire them wouldn't hire you and, most likely, you wouldn't want to work with someone who would hire them. It is easy to imagine you are losing clients but are they really clients if they never would work with you in the first place.
Jul 8, 2020 02:05:11 AM by Jennifer R
David M wrote:How is it that they're amazing polyglots who can speak and translate 13 languages somehow, but continue to post jobs looking for other freelancers who speak those same languages?13 languages is nothing, try 31.Deep sigh after getting that off my chest, now back to my feed to find/flag job postings...Don't waste your time on that.
The clients get what they pay for.
Jul 9, 2020 05:36:26 AM by Cat L
I need to understand the issue further. What is a "farmer" and a "Private Talent Cloud"?
TY.
Sep 12, 2019 08:02:17 AM by Richard W
Preston H wrote:re: "If it's so easy for us to recognize these frauds, why is it so difficult for UW?"
Don't underestimate the superiority of human intelligence relative to computers.
Ultimately, the only thing inside a computer is zeros and ones.
What you may think is easy can be quite difficult to do using only zeroes and ones.
Ultimately, the only thing inside a brain is protons, neutrons and electrons. What you may think is easy can be quite difficult to do using only protons, neutrons and electrons. It's a good thing that natural selection is smarter than Upwork.
Sep 10, 2019 09:41:53 AM by Sarah C
Especially when the job posting literally says "I need someone to write an academic paper" in the title................
Jul 9, 2020 05:38:43 AM by Cat L
It would be a simple thing to scan, find 'academic paper' and **bleep**can that job offer. No?
Jul 9, 2020 05:30:39 AM by Cat L
Talk about senseless outsourcing. The nerve!
We can cheat just as well, if not better, in the good ole US. 😉