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resultsassoc
Community Member

The Unintended Consequences of being the Featured Contributor

I have no idea who decided I should be the December Featured Contributor, but as soon as I find out I'll write a check to find a cure.

 

All month I have been getting private messages from Third World freelancers asking me to solve problems that are in the province of customer service. Today's message was a simple and easy issue that only CS can resolve, but he related to me that multiple messages have gone unanswered. The others got an explanation that I'm not an employee and the freelancer should contact customer support. This fellow had aleady tried that.

 

I used the support bot to submit his issue myself. I'll keep the community posted on whether CS keeps its record intact for excellence in avoiding service to customers.

22 REPLIES 22
yitwail
Community Member

Bill, what you're calling an 'unintended consequence' is an unpublicized perk for achieving Featured Contributor recognition. Cat Wink

__________________________________________________
"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce
petra_r
Community Member


@Bill H wrote:

All month I have been getting private messages from Third World freelancers asking me to solve problems


 Welcome to my world...

Bill, tell the bot to "please un-perk" you.  

Petra, I get requests for help or advice maybe every six weeks, but three (or maybe four, my memory isn't as good as it once was) in a month is a new record.

 

Wendy, I got a "Dear Occupant" message from customer support asking me for more details. You've got to be kidding. An inability to understand "Freelancer XYZ can't remember his security question and has received no replies to multiple messages to CS; please contact him" is worse than the new Rep. from the Bronx who, when asked how to pay for something, says 'just use the trillions in accounting plugs from the Defense Department.' It kind of falls into "Price of Entry to your chosen profession."

I just tell them I'm really terrible and lazy and have no idea what I'm doing. You know, all true things.


@Bill H wrote:

Petra, I get requests for help or advice maybe every six weeks, but three (or maybe four, my memory isn't as good as it once was) in a month is a new record.


 Yeah, try 3-7 a week... and some are actualy really rude 😞

tlsanders
Community Member

Bill, I've never been featured freelancer, and that has been happening to me for nearly as long as I've been on Upwork.

versailles
Community Member


@Bill H wrote:

 


Usually they ask before they knight you. If you have accepted, you did this to yourself 🙂

 

If they didn't ask, it's called community service.  What did the judge say? How long did you get?

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless

I just delete their private messages and don't respond at all.

Hey, wait. You mean all you guys are getting unsolicited private messages for help from various admirers from the around the globe? I'm shook. This is like finding out that all of this time when you think you are friends with the cool kids, you discover that after you leave the room they go to all the fun parties without you. I do not get such messages and I am just outraged and frankly feel a little small right now. I guess I'll just have to keep spending my time with paying clients. Hope you all are happy! Elitists. 

For some unknown reason, I was featured for 3-4 months.  I actually got a PM desperately asking me for $2k that night!  But I don't generally get these anymore which is fine because I generally ignore PMs unless I know the sender.

 

Bill, bless  your heart.  Scott, be careful what you wish for.

I guess I could start forwarding these messages to Scott.

A new low. The CS woman asked me for the freelancer's e-mail address. I don't have it, I sent her a link to his profile.

 

Scott, we elitists normally don't deal with the maggotry, but if I get any more requests for help I'll send them your way so you, too, can attend parties with the cool kids.

Preston & Bill - 

 

Sure, just what I need now. Pity problems forwarded to me under the guise of being one of the "in crowd". I do have some dignity left you know! Oh, who am I kidding. Just make the forwards look realistic and see that they all start with "Dear Exalted One". That should get things back on track.  Thanks pals! 

Dear featured Cotributor,

 

I have a few questions for you (please don't forward them to Scott):

 

Upwork tells us to check out your interview, so you were interviewed, or did they invent your "interesting story" as they call it?

 

I admit it's not a bad story. How did they find out that you had an interesting story to tell?

 

How about your last answer "Acceptance beats understanding every time." Why don't you just accept that people send you all kind of questions, now that you are a featured Contributor?

I was interviewed via questionnaire. As I said earlier, when I figure out who decided to feature me and decide I had an interesting story, I write a check to find a cure.

 

My last answer goes to relationships, including freelancer-client relationships. "But, you don't understand!!!!!!!" Of course I don't, I'm not you. I have no idea why you would choose to live in Malden, Missouri. It's not in the middle of nowhere, because that would imply some sort of centrality. It's just off to the side of the middle of nowhere. I do not understand why you are trying to make a living as a Nepalese-speaking nanny in the bootheel of the state; nobody within eighty miles speaks the language. But, I don't have to understand any of that. I accept that you made these decisions, and hope they have worked out well for you.

I like your elaborate answer to question 3, but how about question 2? Do you deliberately refuse to answer?

 

Besides, I'm now wondering whether a questionnaire can be considered as an interview. Technically, you should be viewing each other, not viewing a questionnaire. That's strange.

I like your elaborate answer to question 3, but how about question 2? Do you deliberately refuse to answer?

 

Besides, I'm now wondering whether a questionnaire can be considered as an interview. Technically, you should be viewing each other, not viewing a questionnaire. That's strange.

 

Please identify the question you believe I refused to answer.

 

Yes, a questionnaire can be considered an interview, just a not very good one. Upwork doesn't appear to acknowledge the existence of anything that isn't algorithm-driven, though, and person-to-person interviews don't fit the model. Interestingly, no U.S. intelligence or law enforcement organization accepts the result of a questionnaire as a valid interview, nor interviews of secondary sources. That is, talking to people who interviewed others on your behalf. Since the entire Steele Dossier was written based on secondary sources, I'm stunned that anyone in the US ever took it seriously.


Bill H wrote:

I like your elaborate answer to question 3, but how about question 2? Do you deliberately refuse to answer?

 

Besides, I'm now wondering whether a questionnaire can be considered as an interview. Technically, you should be viewing each other, not viewing a questionnaire. That's strange.

 

Please identify the question you believe I refused to answer.

 

Yes, a questionnaire can be considered an interview, just a not very good one. Upwork doesn't appear to acknowledge the existence of anything that isn't algorithm-driven, though, and person-to-person interviews don't fit the model. Interestingly, no U.S. intelligence or law enforcement organization accepts the result of a questionnaire as a valid interview, nor interviews of secondary sources. That is, talking to people who interviewed others on your behalf. Since the entire Steele Dossier was written based on secondary sources, I'm stunned that anyone in the US ever took it seriously.


 

Hi Bill, the question you haven't answered is ".... How did they find out that you had an interesting story to tell?". 

 

Well, as for the meaning of interview, a simple look at the etymology of the word will clearly explain why I wouldn't use this word to describe what happened between you and Upwork. "Check out his interview" is close to "Fake News". Your statement "Upwork doesn't appear to acknowledge the existence of anything that isn't algorithm-driven" brings tears to my eyes (I'm exagerating a bit). Here we are, humans trying to survive a non-human world. It's just terrible. Recently, I took the time to read George Orwell's "1984" again. Yes, we're getting there.

I was featured ages ago (before the Community revamp) and I still get desperate pleas for CS in my messages (along with desperate pleas to write profile overviews, questions about how to make it look like freelancers are based in the US when they're not, and random chit chats from people with whom I have never previously interacted). I also get a fair number of "likes" on posts that are several years old. I like both of Preston's strategies: ignore PLUS forward to Scott. Sounds like a new year's resolution to me. 

Melissa,

 

Two so far this week, both from South Asia. As for New Year's Resolutions, last year's was to lose ten pounds. As of December 31, I only had fourteen pounds to go.


Bill H wrote:

Melissa,

 

Two so far this week, both from South Asia. As for New Year's Resolutions, last year's was to lose ten pounds. As of December 31, I only had fourteen pounds to go.


It's like you're reading a page from my very own life!  

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