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ericaandrews
Community Member

Upwork -Seriously? Antarctica? Foreal????

Upwork. Are you SERIOUS? How is ANTARCTICA even a "preferred location" available for clients to select when posting a job? You have GOT to be KIDDING me. WHO is freelancing from...ANTARCTICA? I Just received an "invite" to this job (which looks very REPUTABLE and "legit"), posted 21 days ago, with few proposals and NO hires, and now I know why FEW people have been bidding: Because likely NO freelancers live in.... ANTARCTICA.  can we REMOVE this foolishness from the list of "preferred locations" so clients don't accidentally select a location where only Penguins and a handful of scientists and "explorationists" live?  Nobody is 'freelancing' from Antarctica. Nobody.  This is beyond idiotic. 

 

 

27 REPLIES 27
prestonhunter
Community Member

Fun fact:

Antarctic penguins are naturally gifted Linux administrators.

The client will no doubt want to pay the freelancer in cold cash, Preston.

As long as they don't freeze the freelancer's account...

grendon
Community Member

Ok ok. 

Please let's be careful with what we say about this. It's a polarizing topic.

3a761b81
Community Member

We shouldn't give the client the cold shoulder just because of their preferred location.

9fe872eb
Community Member

Yeah we should stop now or this discussion will quickly go south

49f21fbb
Community Member

Right? May hurt some freezelancer's feelings

This is true, Preston.  I am also a naturally gifted Linux expert....in AMERICA.  

Ah, small wonder that they are hunted by seals - i.e. Mac OS X admins.

f_jahan_eva
Community Member

maybe that's why freelancers told about scam clients & still, those appeared in job searches like Antarctica clients. Those issues are less controllable by freelancers if Upwork really doesn't have the intention to remove scam clients & Antarctica in location.

11471b71
Community Member

However, we got much to entertain. lol

 

the-right-writer
Community Member

While it's true scientists and researchers visit Antarctica, the fact is no one lives in Antarctica Unless, wait, Upwork is on the cutting edge, and they want those connects...maybe they are allowing animals to sign up. It would improve the quality of the average proposal.

sullivanliz
Community Member

I don't see the harm in it being an option (there's always a chance that someone might be conducting a study on Antarctic wildlife or ice floes!) but why a client would choose it if it wasn't applicable to them is beyond strange... some kind of test maybe?

There is 'harm' in leaving the option there if it is easily 'accidentally' selectable by cleints, which causes their job posts not to be seen or just ignored because they categorized the location in a place where nobody lives.  This client is probably inviting people and asking "why is nobody applying", not realizing they accidently posted a job with an idiotic location requirement.    It's about as idiotic as a client being able to list a 'preferred location' of Saturn, Mercury, or Mars.   Nobody lives there and, I'm just guessing, that high speed internet is  probably not widely available in those locations, currently.  And, no, I don't think the client is running a scam: The client has been on the platform for years with a few million spent, and the job post was a tech job with very clear and detailed skill requirements for the job.   Definitely a 'legit' job, but it's just just not being seen (or receiving proposals)  because the client  accidentally selected 'Antarctica' when that shouldn't even be an available option on the menu.  

Fair enough, Antarctica is not a requirement though - it's the preferred location. Anyone from anywhere can still apply. I often apply for jobs where I don't live in the client's preferred location because I don't live in my home country but still work in my native language. And I'm definitely not the only one! I think there was a bug a while back that affected people applying outside preferred location, although I'm not sure how it panned out. Maybe the lack of responses has something to do with that?

 

I didn't say anything about scams or the job not being legit. I said it could be a test - an overly tricksy client who wants prospective freelancers to 'prove' their interest. I don't really think this is the case, far more likely it was an accident. I agree it's pretty silly having Antarctica as an option, and I was being kind of flippant in my first answer. But I'm also not sure that it's such a big deal - maybe try to chill... (argh sorry, couldn't resist!)

 

 

spectralua
Community Member

Should be this is first option from dropdown list. Client just clicked default options and started job.

I don't think so. My guess is the client wanted to exclude polar bears from bidding.

That's so unfair! Polar bears can be freelancers, too! I'm sure Upwork has already approved more than a few.

jared_k
Community Member

Never ice out a potential pool of clients, no matter how cold they may be.

roberty1y
Community Member

Be careful when the freelancer says, "I am just going outside and may be some time."

kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Thanks for flagging this, CJ. I'd like to reiterate that the preferred qualifications setting doesn't prevent talent who don't meet that preference from applying to the job. That said, we've shared this thread with the team and they're looking into the data shown in various menus, filters and settings that allow users select a location on the site. Once we have more information, we'll provide an update here. Meanwhile, I must say, I'm really enjoying the Antarctica puns, so keep them coming. 

~ Valeria
Upwork
jeremiah-brown
Community Member

I don't care if the client is from Antartica or the North Pole as long as I am getting paid for my time.

 

sparkesusan
Community Member

Why would freeze out potential freelancers.

 

77cda6fa
Community Member

For all you know Santa could need a Linux admin haha

Don't you mean Jack Frost?

elisa_b
Community Member

A freelancer who applied and is waiting for a reply:

 

IMG_20221101_213738.jpg

 

renata101
Community Member

There was a translation job posted from this place a few months ago:
https://www.npolar.no/en/themes/bouvetoya/

It has its own top-level domain (.bv).

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