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mwiggenhorn
Community Member

What's going on?

US based freelancers are being told that they don't live in the US.  Everyone's JSS, stats, earnings, etc. were totally screwed up.  Proposals are being archived irrationally. Attachments are disappearing from proposals.

 

And all of this seems to be happening at once.  Really doesn't make Upwork look very marketable.

 

 ETA: after reading another thread, I changed my visibility to public and logged out of Upwork.  Went to search and I wasn't there.  At all.  Sigh.

28 REPLIES 28
AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

 

I'm sorry that this has been an inconvenience for you, Mary. Please know that the team is working to resolve the issues you have mentioned.

As for not seeing yourself in the marketplace, I made a search for Mary + Paralegal, and Mary + Litigation (on a freelancer account), and in both instances, you came up first on my results. I know you are aware of this already, but please know that search results will vary, depending on who, and when the search was made, and what type of account the search was made on. 

Screen Shot 2019-01-11 at 9.10.49 AM.png


~ Avery
Upwork

I searched for Mary W. Nada.

Thanks for your response. It's just been a frustrating week.

I searched for Mary W.  Nada.  
 
Avery, thanks for  your quick response.  It's just been a frustrating week. I really believe in this platform but sometimes it's just hard...
mtngigi
Community Member


@Mary W wrote:

US based freelancers are being told that they don't live in the US.  Everyone's JSS, stats, earnings, etc. were totally screwed up.  Proposals are being archived irrationally. Attachments are disappearing from proposals.

 

And all of this seems to be happening at once.  Really doesn't make Upwork look very marketable.

 

 ETA: after reading another thread, I changed my visibility to public and logged out of Upwork.  Went to search and I wasn't there.  At all.  Sigh.

 

 

It's pretty bad, isn't Mary?  To learn how seemingly little we are respected by Upwork.  I wondered if they were doing all that stuff to distract us from the trash bin/TA specialist thread ... paranoid, am I right? But hey ... I don't might having that tune in my head. Take a deep breath and sing along. Mother, mother ...


AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Mary and Virginia, 

I understand why you would feel that way, Mary, and Virginia. I would like to clarify that the recent issues on the platform, and the feedback about our Talent Specialists are two unrelated cases. While our engineers are working to resolve the issues that you have experienced, please also know that we value each and every post noted on the thread mentioned, and also feedback about our other programs, and the platform in general. We might not be able to reply to each and every post here in the Community, but do know that we make sure these are all shared with the different teams working with us. 

 

We appreciate that you continue to participate, and (virtually) spend time with us here in the Community. 


~ Avery
Upwork

Avery, thanks for your always speedy responses.  I realize that you have no direct responsibility for what goes on behind the curtain and I'm sorry that you  mods bear the brunt of our frustrations.

Mary,  in the Archived Proposals thread - page 16 - Baris explained the lack of factual data when searching for oneself.

 

"First of all searching a name when logged out is not a healthy way to see things. When you search, for example "Baris A" (or with my surname) there is PHP as a keyword but if you search PHP I'm nowhere to find. (Do the same with google, you'll see all kinds of BS) 

 

What I want to say is this searching yourself while logged out is not the issue here and TS is not doing it like that (right Steve?). What they are doing though is wrong and should be stopped."

mtngigi
Community Member

 


Avery O wrote:

Hi Mary and Virginia, 

I understand why you would feel that way, Mary, and Virginia. I would like to clarify that the recent issues on the platform, and the feedback about our Talent Specialists are two unrelated cases. While our engineers are working to resolve the issues that you have experienced, please also know that we value each and every post noted on the thread mentioned, and also feedback about our other programs, and the platform in general. We might not be able to reply to each and every post here in the Community, but do know that we make sure these are all shared with the different teams working with us. 

 

We appreciate that you continue to participate, and (virtually) spend time with us here in the Community. 


I have a hard time believing Upwork values anything about any of us ... and with good reason. I imagine it's sometimes difficult to tow the party line .

mtngigi
Community Member


Avery O wrote:

Hi Mary and Virginia, 

I understand why you would feel that way, Mary, and Virginia. I would like to clarify that the recent issues on the platform, and the feedback about our Talent Specialists are two unrelated cases. While our engineers are working to resolve the issues that you have experienced, please also know that we value each and every post noted on the thread mentioned, and also feedback about our other programs, and the platform in general. We might not be able to reply to each and every post here in the Community, but do know that we make sure these are all shared with the different teams working with us. We appreciate that you continue to participate, and (virtually) spend time with us here in the Community. 

 

That's why I used the word "paranoid". That said, the complete and total lack of response on that thread for days and days now pretty much negates any appreciation Upwork may have for us.

 

I'll repeat Mary's question. What's going on?


 

I have just searched for Mary's profile.

1)This is what I get when I tap in "Mary W" without specifying the filters: Bianca, Michael, Adam, Mark, Ivelina, and Faisal etc. 

http://prntscr.com/m7hk7f

 

2) Mary W appeared with these filters:   

http://prntscr.com/m7hlz2   But she does not appear if any time is put on "last activity".

 

3) Using the same filters but simply searching in the legal category. Mary comes up on page 5 among 98 others (not necessarily legals or paralegals). Other categories creep in here, copywriters, editors, HR specialists etc. 

4) If I were a client and happened to know that the FL I wanted was called Mary W, the drop-down menu shows me her full family name (which I happen to know, but a client wouldn't) along with a few other Marys and their family names too.

 

Going back to item 3, an editor (and a good one at that) is shown on page 5 because they have had "3 jobs that match your search".  Now the algorithm cannot possibly know that, or what I am looking for based on the filters. No wonder TS can't get it right.  

 

One should not forget that clients don't search names. They search skills. It may happen that, every now and then, someone would search a name because they saw a profile and want to see it again, but this is a borderline use of the search functionality.

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


Rene K wrote:

One should not forget that clients don't search names. They search skills. It may happen that, every now and then, someone would search a name because they saw a profile and want to see it again, but this is a borderline use of the search functionality.


 ______________________

Exactly, that is what I just said in #3. The search was inadequate because page 5 of the legal category i coupled with the filters I chose, does not only represent legals and paralegals. 

And #4 explains why a potential client was able to call me on my home telephone once upon a time.  Last name + city = me.  Ugh.


Mary W wrote:

And #4 explains why a potential client was able to call me on my home telephone once upon a time.  Last name + city = me.  Ugh.


Seriously?!  And UW thought it was okay to have maps on our profiles.

Sure, clients don't search names, but the skills that appear related to profiles show how bad the algorithms work here. I will never understand how on earth I could be related to Ghost Writing, Christian Theology, Counseling Psychology and Marriage Counseling, areas that I have no idea about, and have never been mentioned in my profile which is all about graphics and multimedia. It means that if someone look for "Marriage counseling ghost writing" I will appear somewhere in the list of freelancers taking someone else's place indeed (I prefer not to try). I wonder how many chances I have missed for being "miscast" by the algorithms.

You provide pre-marital counselling to Christian ghosts?


Preston H wrote:

You provide pre-marital counselling to Christian ghosts?


It seems a very specific skill, but, always better to be specialized!

Virginia - this was before the maps even.  I have a very strange last name (less than 100 people in the US have the same last name) and I live in a pretty small city.  Easy for the jerk to find me.


Mary W wrote:

Virginia - this was before the maps even.  I have a very strange last name (less than 100 people in the US have the same last name) and I live in a pretty small city.  Easy for the jerk to find me.

 

Sorry to hear that happened - it would creep me out. How did you handle it? Me ... I would have just hung up. Smiley Mad


lagengen
Community Member

I am started at Upwork about a month ago and immediately started getting the message that "the client will see you don't live in the U.S." I contacted CS and they resolved it quickly. 

jcullinan
Community Member


Mary W wrote:

US based freelancers are being told that they don't live in the US.  Everyone's JSS, stats, earnings, etc. were totally screwed up.  Proposals are being archived irrationally. Attachments are disappearing from proposals.

 

And all of this seems to be happening at once.  Really doesn't make Upwork look very marketable.

 

 ETA: after reading another thread, I changed my visibility to public and logged out of Upwork.  Went to search and I wasn't there.  At all.  Sigh.


Also have you seen the latest news?

 

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Announcements/New-Identity-Verification-Badge-available-soon-for-Top...

I have no problem with verifying my identity.  In fact, it's a move in the right direction as far as I'm concerned.

UW denying acess to US Jobs for Freelancers based in the US is continuing.  Unless Texas is no longer in the US.

Joseph M. C. ,P.C., CPA/ABV
mtngigi
Community Member


Joseph C wrote:

UW denying acess to US Jobs for Freelancers based in the US is continuing.  Unless Texas is no longer in the US.


It's a bit insane how long it takes them to fix things, isn't it? That said, we all know that Texas has always promoted itself as "a whole other country".

 

Screen shot 2019-01-22 at 2.12.35 PM.png

 

Sorry Joseph, couldn't resist. 🙂

 

 

jmccpa
Community Member

Virginia,

 

Y'all correct.

 

But I had hoped that the UW alorithms would know that I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY.  How much more US can I be?

Joseph M. C. ,P.C., CPA/ABV
mtngigi
Community Member

Joseph C. wrote:

Virginia,

 

Y'all correct.

 

But I had hoped that the UW alorithms would know that I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY.  How much more US can I be?

 

We all know that Upwork algorithms seem to know diddly. But you're right, you can't get any more American than Brooklyn ... or Texas.


BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Joseph,

 

Could you please check this thread and Vladimir's most recent post there. Please do send a PM to ValeriaVladimir or me, with a link to the job posting where you're still getting the location preference error. Thank you.

~ Bojan
Upwork


Mary W wrote:

I have no problem with verifying my identity.  In fact, it's a move in the right direction as far as I'm concerned.


The act of verifying one's identity is not the chilling part. It's the way it's being rolled out as a "perk" to have a badge showing that you've done it, but no indication as to how they decide who gets to be first in line. Plus the inherent dishonesty in framing it this way instead of as a requirement that they've been enforcing for new applications for the past several years now applying to everyone (but, again, "slowly rolled out").

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