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lrmessing
Community Member

Is it a glitch?

Job posters names seem to have disappeared from my submitted proposals. Is this a glitch, is it just something wrong with my account, or has Upwork decided to hide those names from freelancers, even though we've spent connects to submit a proposal and that info can help us glean a little more info on a potential client?

40 REPLIES 40
joansands
Community Member

The names have also been removed from my proposals - including those that I am interviewing with.

kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Hi Lisa and Joan,

 

Could you please clarify which page you are referring to? It's been a while since this post where we announced that client names won't show on submitted proposals until the proposal is accepted and the interview room is set.

 

Joan, I checked a couple of active proposals (interviews) of yours and the client name shows on those in the upper right corner. Please, let me know if you are referring to a different page.

 

Edited to update: I believe I found what you are referring to and will further investigate this.

~ Valeria
Upwork

Confused - when did you ever announce that client names would no longer show up on submitted proposals? Until yesterday, on my proposal page, I could see all names of clients on every job to which I submitted a proposal. Not only am I now paying nearly $1 per proposal, most of which go nowhere because the clients never hire but don't close the job inside of 30 days so I don't get refunded, but now I can't even see who they are?

So I asked why the client names have suddenly been removed from submitted proposals and received this entirely unsatisfactory response, which doesn't even address or answer my question. When was this NEW policy announced? Apparently I missed it. What is the reason? Some bogus attempt at increased client confidentiality? Why can't I get a straight answer?

 

**Edited for community guidelines**

 

Are you kidding? I don't need screen shots to show me where to find the name of a client, I want to know why UW has suddenly, and without informing us, decided to remove names from posts to which we've submitted proposals! They were there yesterday and today they're gone, so you've eliminated yet another tool that was beneficial to freelancers, I assume for the benefit of the client.

 

Why does it matter to you?

tlbp
Community Member


Mark F wrote:

Why does it matter to you?


Apparently, Upwork isn't permitted to change anything without some freelancers' consent. Can you imagine having to notify every client you've ever worked with each time you decided to change something about your business? Oh, dear clients, I'm no longer setting my alarm for 9 a.m., I've decided to start getting up at 9:30. 🙄

Lisa, I'm not 100% sure but I think this may have been a bug (showing clients' names when you just submit a proposal).

 

I don't think client's name is supposed to show up unless they invited you to a job or replied to your proposal. Otherwise, what would be the point in hiding clients' names from RFPs if you can just see them as soon as you apply.

 

I don't remember the names being visible before [unless invited or contacted], so I really think it was a bug that just got quietly fixed. Upwork devs giveth and Upwork devs taketh away.

Ines, thanks, but it was absolutely not a 'bug.' I've always been able to see client names once I've used connects to submit a proposal (which are now costing me .90/apiece because most of the jobs I submit on are 6 connects).. It has been helpful to do a tiny bit of due diligence on who you're hoping to work with, so, for example, on a job I'm really hoping to get, I might do a quick LinkedIn search or even a google search to have a better idea about the potential client and see if they're legit, etc.

I can vouch that it was definitely not a bug. I could see all clients names after I submitted a proposal up until this morning.

Hi everyone, I've just noticed that after sending my proposal, I'm not able to see the client's name or company name. Is it just me?

Secondly, most of the projects which are now even closed still appear in my Active proposals window. Why?

Best regards,
Syed Ali **Edited for Community Guidelines**

tlbp
Community Member
ali_syedn
Community Member

Thank you, Tonya.  I thought it's just another issue.  Do you have any idea why I'm facing the second issue that proposals remain in the Active tab rather in the Archived tab even though clients have hired someone else?


Syed Ali N wrote:

Do you have any idea why I'm facing the second issue that proposals remain in the Active tab rather in the Archived tab even though clients have hired someone else?


The client decided to leave the job post open.It does not do you any harm at all.

 


Jennifer P wrote:
I can vouch that it was definitely not a bug. I could see all clients names after I submitted a proposal up until this morning.

Thing is... how does it even matter?

 

You could not see the name until AFTER sending a proposal (seeing it before would have been useful) and once a client replies to a proposal, you can see it again.

 

Why would anyone do any research between sending a proposal and being chosen for interview or sent an offer?

 

It would only be of any use to those who want to contact clients outside the platform, surely? Who else would spend time looking up strangers on the Internet following a proposal that is already sent and without any buying signs from the client?

BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

We apologize for the confusion and the inconvenience this caused, Lisa. While we are checking about this with our engineers, we don't have an update yet.

 

 We'll follow up on this thread once we receive an update from our team.

 

Thank you for your patience.

~ Bojan
Upwork

I just noticed after I submitted a proposal I could no longer see the campanies name? 

 

I also noticed all type on the site is suddenly bold and it is driving me nuts. Is it just on my computer or is it a platform wide change?

It has been that way for a long time.

It is intentional.

It is not going back to the way it was.

 

YOU were a responsible freelancer. You did not abuse this.

But there were bad people who looked up company contact information directly, and contacted the companies OUTSIDE of Upwork, to offer services.

 

So those people pestering companies are the reason this feature is gone.

Actually this just happened for me today, or literally this afternoon. 

 

And rediculous. What else do we loose?! 

And there it is...finally. Thank you at least for clarifying, Preston. I would never contact a potential client before they invited me to begin a conversation, but it was useful for me to know who they were. Frankly, I'm surprised I have to explain it to anyone, but for those who don't understand (I guess it never occurred to them that they could do it), as I mentioned earlier, I could do a little due diligence on a job that I was particularly interested in, to see if they were legit, if they were a professsional in some field, if they'd written anything before (I'm an editor) and so on. Then if I heard from them, I'd have a general idea about who they were and could communicate on more of an even playing field.

 

So I guess, much like in a middle school classroom, when one idiot abuses a feature, we're all punished. And not even told about it. No other option, huh? Yet another benefit taken away from the freelancers.

 

Let's review: we're now paying for connects, the # of connects needed for any reasonably-priced job has tripled, skills tests (that we spent time taking) have been removed (but you didn't remove the template question on the client side, so they're still including the question about skills tests), and now complete client anonymity, even after we've applied. They can see everything about us that they need to see, but for us they're invisible, even though we're paying for the privilege of having them ignore us, and not being refunded connects when they do, unless they close within 30 days (which they rarely do).

 

Once again, UW has shown its anomosity for freelancers.

I am totally with you Lisa!. We freelancers don't aim to misuse the visibility of the client's name but we need it for the duedeligence as you said.

 

I request upwork to re consider this request and roll back! Freelancers who are paying for connects and also percentage of the project as fees must be given certain valude added service which we deserve. 

 

Also, I request Upwork to make some policy for certain segement of job posters who are just posting jobs and not making any hiring decision. Every single penny earned is important to every one of us. If for Upwork 0.15 $ matters then for freelancers certainly 0.90$ would. 

kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Hi All,

 

We have confirmed that this change was made intentionally. For privacy reasons we do not show client names on the proposals page and on proposals that have been sent but not yet accepted. You will still be able to see the name of the client once the interview is initiated. Sorry about the confusion once again.

~ Valeria
Upwork

uh huh, and you did it surreptitiously, hoping no one would notice, so thanks for that. Awesome.

I support your decision of hiding clients name until the interview stage. 

But previously after submitting a proposal I could see the number of applicants applied to the job like 27, 14 etc. But now after submitting the proposal I am only viewing 5 to 10 proposals, 20 to 50 proposals. See the attached screenshot. 

 

Was this change also implemented or is it just me...

Hi Namita,

 

Thank you for the question, I moved your post to this thread since it's discussing the same topic and the announcement thread you posted on hasn't seen any activity since 2017.

 

Here's the thread we announced the change in the way proposal count appears on job posts and proposal pages back in 2016.

~ Vladimir
Upwork

Thanks Vladimir, 

 

I wasn't even on upwork in 2016. But up until last week after applying to any job post I was able to view the exact number of applicants on my proposal page. But now it's gone. I am only viewing the proposal range. Why so....

Hi Lisa, Joan, Jennifer,

 

I'd like to reiterate that this is not a recent change and Valeria shared the announcement post dating from 2017 in her second post, in which the update about how client and freelancer names are displayed on the site prior to interviewing was announced as well as the rationale for it.

 

If you take a look at that post, you can see that Lena outlined that while client names are hidden in proposals and on job posts until the freelancer and client have connected in Upwork Messages to interview, you’ll be able to see their name on invitations to interview if you've worked with a client previously. This might be the reason why you might not have noticed the change which has been in place for more than two years.

 

Let us know if you have any further questions and we'll gladly follow up to advise.

~ Vladimir
Upwork

It was definitely a recent change for me. I remember seeing names on Friday. And I also would research companies to make sure I was applying to legit people. Clients claim a lot of things in their proposals...

 

Policy might've been made in 2017, but it took a couple of years to implement. 


Vladimir G wrote:

 

I'd like to reiterate that this is not a recent change


Actually, it is. No amount of reiterating changes that. Repeating something that isn't true does not magically render it so 😉

 

For a while now, and up until a few days ago, it was possible to see the client's name after (!) sending a proposal and prior (!) to the interview.

Whether that was by design or accidentally (bug?) is unclear, but it was "a thing" and now it no longer is. That makes it "a recent change."

 

When I first noticed the names showing, I was actually surprised that they were showing, but it is not true to say that them now no longer showing isn't a recent change because it is.

 


Vladimir G wrote, about invites, which is not what we're talking about:

This might be the reason why you might not have noticed the change which has been in place for more than two years.


Nope. That simply isn't true. I can absolutely assure you that up until a few days ago, the client's name was showing on a proposal after that proposal has been made and prior to us being contacted back by the client. I don't think that has been happening for a long time, or at least I never noticed it before, but over the past few months it categorically and without any shadow of a doubt has been.

 

Personally, I don't miss it - but it did exist and telling us we were confused or **Edited for Community Guidelines** does not change the facts.

 

 

VladimirG
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Petra,

 

You are correct, I was advised earlier today that our team recently implemented an update in order to apply the correct process of not displaying client names on proposals in the similar way they aren't displayed on job posts. This update had been announced and implemented in 2016 and I wasn't aware of the events that have taken place in the meantime, and apologize for sharing incorrect information about this not being a recent change.

~ Vladimir
Upwork
laboffo
Community Member

Upwork isn't protecting the anonminity of clients, they're protecting themselves at the expense (literally $) of freelancers.  Upwork doesn't want people getting paid off their platform, otherwise they'd just ban the freelancers who contact clients directly.  Do clients know that freelancers pay three different ways to use this platform?  Monthly, buying connects and percentage of earnings.  Some job posts are so vague, it seems like clients' are unaware that freelancers are paying just to apply to their position.  Also, way too many jobs I apply to (and spend credits on) end up with no hire on the platform; if there is no hire, then Upwork should refund credits to the freelancers who applied-- that is the only way to ensure fairness since they took away our ability to verify the legitimacy of the job/company.  How do we know that Upwork isn't posting phoney jobs to make it look like their platfrom has lot to offer?   As freelancers we need to speak up with regards to this issue or move to another platform altogether...


Vladimir G wrote:

Hi Lisa, Joan, Jennifer,

 

I'd like to reiterate that this is not a recent change and Valeria shared the announcement post dating from 2017 in her second post, in which the update about how client and freelancer names are displayed on the site prior to interviewing was announced as well as the rationale for it.

 

If you take a look at that post, you can see that Lena outlined that while client names are hidden in proposals and on job posts until the freelancer and client have connected in Upwork Messages to interview, you’ll be able to see their name on invitations to interview if you've worked with a client previously. This might be the reason why you might not have noticed the change which has been in place for more than two years.

 

Let us know if you have any further questions and we'll gladly follow up to advise.


Valdimir, that's how it was supposed to be - but it wasn't.

 

I knew for a while that I wasn't supposed to see client names on submitted proposals but I could. ALL THE NAMES. Not just those of people I had worked with before.

 

It was a bug and I know several people who, like me, would never have have mentioned it here because, for once, it was a GOOD bug. Unfortunately, it got fixed eventually...

 

ETA: I only read Petra and Vlad's latest replies after reacting to an earlier post.

Valeria - Doesn't Upwork think that a change like this should have been announced instead of doing it surreptitiously?

dehow64
Community Member

Hello,

 

I was just submitting more proposals when I realized the client information from the proposals I sent were gone. It used to display either the persons first name or the company name along with their title, and doesn't have that information any more. Was there a new update that caused this to happen or some type of glitch? Either way, it's terrible. I have no idea who I would be working for or no way to reach out to the client and it impedes my ability to get work severely. Is this going to be fixed, and if so, how soon?

dzadza
Community Member

I read somewhere on the forum that it was done deliberately - to stop freelancers from contacting clients off the platform.

Deon and others,  if the buyer contacts you for further clarification on your proposal his/her name will then become visible.

with these new policy changes, I'm beggining to feel like a boiling frog... 

How can we be of any help to a client if we don't have a way to address them and their business specifically based on their proposal? That doesn't make any sense.
petra_r
Community Member


Deon H wrote:

I have no way to reach out to the client and it impedes my ability to get work severely.


And THAT is exactly why this had to be done. Because unprofessional **Edited for Community Guidelines** were "reaching out" to clients outside the platform.

 

florydev
Community Member

In case any of you are still not understanding why Upwork would do this, how about this little gem on this reddit thread:

 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

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