Curious - am I seeing a trend?

[m_sharman]

I focus my search on writing/editing/business plan jobs.  Maybe it's my imagination, but it seems the new connects pricing is creating more discretion in applying for jobs. 

I see a lot of jobs with "less than 5" proposals - curious if others are noticing this as well.

[feed_my_eyes]

I've been on the new connects system for about a month. I think there has been a decline in the number of people applying for jobs from clients who sound demanding but don't have budgets to match, as well as projects with vague descriptions (especially if they cost more than 2 connects to apply), so yes, it does seem as though freelancers are being more discriminating. But I haven't noticed any decline in the number of people applying for the "good" jobs - i.e. legit-sounding, with a detailed project description and a reasonable budget - there are the usual 20-50 applications within an hour.

[bundie702]

I have. It's probably because the clients aren't giving sufficient details, like saying, "My book needs proofreading" with nothing about the subject matter, etc. I know I haven't been applying...

[florydev]

You have clients that give sufficient details, what is that like? 

I have also noticed this as well but I could also definitely see it being a case of bias because I definitely want the new connect system to work like that. 

Anecdotally, I applied to a post on Wednesday for a client who has hired over a hundred jobs on here, spent over $200k, with a 4.77 rating, and it took at least a day for it to climb into the 20's.  Here two days later it stands at 27.  My instinct says that is a lot slower than before.  The client wants a lot of skills and specifically said ALL of them but that has not been a barrier in the past.

[versailles]

Nothing has changed in translation. Only, the random way Upwork is deciding the numbers of connects needed is sometimes hilarious.

And I really think it's purely random since it relies mostly on what one enters into the budget or the duration field at the creaion of a post, which is really not things people who post jobs can guess accurately. Especially for hourlies. So yeah, pretty random.