May 15, 2019 11:47:00 PM by Craig R
Rather than automatically locking a Freelancer's profile because they have not earned for 30 days, the logic should be slightly more refined.
IF a user has not earned for 30 days AND they have not been actively applying for jobs OR have not responded to invitations THEN change profile to private / locked.
I'm sure the programmers out there will improve my logic.
The point is, just because you haven't earned doesn't mean you aren't active. There is such a thing as a conversion rate. I have personally been set to locked/hidden several times despite being pretty active in applying for roles. I was set to locked/hidden yesterday despite having 8 active candidacies, and being invited to apply for 3 jobs in the last 5 days.
OK, it's not drama requesting the change, but we are papering over the cracks in a faulty logic that would be easy to change.
Anyone agree, or have an even better idea ?
Craig
May 16, 2019 08:40:44 AM by Christine A
If you've been set to locked/hidden "many" times, then perhaps you should take this as a sign that you should find a more effective way to market your business? I don't understand why anyone would want to stick around here and repeatedly beat their head against the wall. Upwork isn't the only path to success.
May 16, 2019 10:00:33 AM by Craig R
Wow. OK. I have no problems marketing my business, but thanks for the advice.
My work is management consulting and strategic advisory with reasonably long time scales, not gigs that can be completed in a matter of hours. The "one size fits all" model of these automated processes is something that perhaps can be improved, and that's what I was proposing.
May 16, 2019 10:17:15 AM by Petra R
Craig, I think you may be a little naive as to why they set profiles private when people haven't earned in 30 days...
Activity without earnings is somewhere between meaningless and a red flag.
It either means a) the freelancer is genuinly applying but clients aren't buying, or it means b) clients are biting, but are taken off site.
Do you really think for one second that when you people contact Support to be switched back to public, there isn't a review for signs of either a) or b) ?
The aim is clearly to identify people who are not hired / unattractive to clients and might be better off removed from the platform (which clearly does not apply to you) and those who are attractive to clients, but then take those clients off the site.
If all they wanted was the freelancer to apply to have it set public again, they could have automated the process. The fact that it requires human interaction means there is more to it.
Oct 23, 2019 06:19:10 AM by Larry M
Locking a profile for lack of acquiring work is perhaps the single most counter-productive idea I can think of. It reminds me of the old "debtors prison"
I would think, that as an organization, the Upwork team would want to help, not hinder my attempts to find work.
I would agree that if I am not seeking work, maybe my profile should not show, but given that I continue to buy and use connects, that at least shows I am trying.
How about cutting us a break.
Oct 23, 2019 06:39:01 AM by Goran V
Hi Larry,
Thank you for your feedback, I will share it with our team.
I’ve also reset your profile visibility back to public. Just so that you are aware, freelancers with no earnings in 30 days will have their profile set to private (locked) automatically. To avoid this, you can resume earnings on a new contract or upgrade your membership to the Plus plan. You can check out more info about this here.