Upwork turning my profile page into a grocery store

[prestonhunter]

This is real, and this is live.

My first thought: Ugh, no. Please make the nightmare go away.

[Message receive from Upwork:]

[screenshot from my actual profile page:]

[bzstudio]

Yes, it was not adequate notice.

[alphazomgy]

You don't think it's even worth testing yourself? What if this new change could increase your profits? 

[feed_my_eyes]

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Alexander B wrote:

You don't think it's even worth testing yourself? What if this new change could increase your profits? 

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I do think that it's worth testing - I would have happily volunteered.

[tlsanders]

This, along with the ridiculous cartoon graphics and false sense of urgency Upwork is trying to create with them, just further supports what a few of us have been saying for a while: that Upwork is no more interested in retaining high-end, professional freelancers than the bottom edge. 

All of these features are geared toward commoditization, where competent freelancers are largely interchangeable and services are offered like products off an assembly line--no place for those who do truly specialized, customized work at high quality and high rates.

[feed_my_eyes]

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Tiffany S wrote:

This, along with the ridiculous cartoon graphics and false sense of urgency Upwork is trying to create with them, just further supports what a few of us have been saying for a while: that Upwork is no more interested in retaining high-end, professional freelancers than the bottom edge. 

All of these features are geared toward commoditization, where competent freelancers are largely interchangeable and services are offered like products off an assembly line--no place for those who do truly specialized, customized work at high quality and high rates.

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That's a good point, although I see no reason why both types of services couldn't co-exist (if correctly implemented). I have a couple of service offerings that could be very clearly defined and packaged and purchased "off the shelf" - and for clients who have those specific needs, it would be faster to just hit a "hire" button instead of posting a project. But I agree that most of my business comes from figuring out a client's needs and offering a tailored approach. Hopefully we won't be forced to choose one type of service over the other (and neither will the clients).

[tlsanders]

Christine, I agree. I also have product pricing for some of my lower-end offerings. My point was more that the changes Upwork is making all seem geared toward the freelancer-as-widget model, rather than placing value on the highest-quality, highest-billing freelancers as many had hoped.

[kapilkadam]

There is a popular projects functionality in my Upwork freelancer profile. I want to know the details of it and what is its importance.

[kochubei_valeria]

We have been getting requests to try this beta feature and a few of you expressed your interest on this thread. We are happy to let you know we opened a waitlist. If you are interested in trying it out feel free to check out this announcement and comment. We welcome your feedback as well!

[mhaire]

Hi everyone,

My name is Mhaire (pronounced Mary) and I am a design researcher at Upwork HQ! I’m helping the design and engineering teams to improve the User Experience of our product. 

This thread along with the announcement on the beta test has shared some great feedback. I’d like to connect with some of you who already have the Popular Projects feature on your profile. If you have 20 minutes to provide Upwork with feedback on the Popular Projects/ My Projects feature and what you think about it, I would like to speak with you. We will speak via a remote web conference session. You will need a computer with a mic and speakers, and good internet connection for this session. After we have spoken, we will offer you a $25 Upwork credit or Amazon gift card as a thank you for your time.

If you are interested in participating, please complete this short survey, and we will contact you if you are eligible for our study. 

Note, you will not be compensated for completing the survey linked above. You’ll only be compensated if you are eligible for our study and we contact you for further participation.  

Let me know if you have any questions for me.

Thank you,

Mhaire Fraser| Design Research | Upwork 

[m_sharman]

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Mhaire F wrote:

If you are interested in participating, please complete this short survey, and we will contact you if you are eligible for our study. 

Let me know if you have any questions for me.

Thank you,

Mhaire Fraser| Design Research | Upwork 

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I'm so glad you are reaching out via the forum to connect with Freelancers!

I attempted to complete the survey and there was an error message. Can you please check the link??

Thanks!

[mhaire]

ooops.  I am so sorry.  I forgot to toggle one thing on google forms (sigh).  It should be working now.  Please let me know if not, and I will send you the form another way.

Mhaire

[mhaire]

slight snafu, link was not working, but it is now.   I can't wait to speak with those of you who are signing up

[m_sharman]

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Mhaire F wrote:

slight sanfu, link was not working, but it is now.  thanks so ,uch for signing up.  I can't wait to speak with those of you who are signing up

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Can you post the link again? Thanks.

[mhaire]

that link is

https://forms.gle/JAu8zHwEAtyF63Di7

[m_sharman]

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Mhaire F wrote:

that link is

https://forms.gle/JAu8zHwEAtyF63Di7

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It's still not working. 

[feed_my_eyes]

The link doesn't work for me either. 

[mhaire]

Hi everyone, not sure why the link isn't working. I tried on my end and I am able to see the survey. Im going to post the full link and not the shorter one to see if you can access that way: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScaFXXvGy4LtRr-fG50vbUnPGdrFm-g_Jl4lP66yOeqOzkMDA/viewform

Let me know if this doesn't work either. 

[tomzilla1]

Ever since the updates in June - my invites have gone to 0. I use to get 5 to 15 daily... Can you guys look into this - it's not a really good algorithm in my opinion.

[feed_my_eyes]

The link is working now, but the survey is written partially in German?

[petra_r]

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Christine A wrote:

The link is working now, but the survey is written partially in German?

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Hire a translator 😉

[feed_my_eyes]

Ha! I didn't have any trouble understanding it, but others might. 🙂

[jamesseligman]

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Petra R wrote:

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Christine A wrote:

The link is working now, but the survey is written partially in German?

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Hire a translator 😉

 Do you know of any good ones?  

[VladimirG]

Hi Christine,

Could you please pm me the part which is in German? I'm not seeing that on my end and I'm also able to open the survey from the initial link Mhaire shared.

[feed_my_eyes]

Vladimir - I tried to PM you just now but couldn't get the attachments to work - I hope it's okay to post them here (these don't contain any sensitive information).

[VladimirG]

Hi Christine,

Thanks for the screenshots. Since the text is displayed in English on my end, I'm wondering if it's possible that you're using a browser app that would auto-translate text into German?

[petra_r]

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Vladimir G wrote:

Hi Christine,

Thanks for the screenshots. Since the text is displayed in English on my end, I'm wondering if it's possible that you're using a browser app that would auto-translate text into German?

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Would that not translate all of it? And why would Christine set up a browser setting that translates only parts of only one single document into a language she does not speak?

For the record, I see it all in English.

[VladimirG]

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Petra R wrote:

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Vladimir G wrote:

Hi Christine,

Thanks for the screenshots. Since the text is displayed in English on my end, I'm wondering if it's possible that you're using a browser app that would auto-translate text into German?

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Would that not translate all of it? And why would Christine set up a browser setting that translates only parts of only one single document into a language she does not speak?

For the record, I see it all in English.

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Yes, that appeared odd to me too but I don't have a better explanation apart from an app translating the text, since it's not appearing on my end and does appear to be affecting Christine only. Hope your questions are rhetorical and you're not expecting a response from me :).

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[petra_r]

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Vladimir G wrote:

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Petra R wrote:

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Vladimir G wrote:

Hi Christine,

Hope your questions are rhetorical and you're not expecting a response from me :).

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They are and I don't 😄 , but I am genuinly intrigued how that happened (I suspect something fancy in the settings of the google form giving unexpected and surprising results)

[m_terrazas]

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Vladimir G wrote:

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Petra R wrote:

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Vladimir G wrote:

Hi Christine,

Thanks for the screenshots. Since the text is displayed in English on my end, I'm wondering if it's possible that you're using a browser app that would auto-translate text into German?

---

Would that not translate all of it? And why would Christine set up a browser setting that translates only parts of only one single document into a language she does not speak?

For the record, I see it all in English.

---

Yes, that appeared odd to me too but I don't have a better explanation apart from an app translating the text, since it's not appearing on my end and does appear to be affecting Christine only. Hope your questions are rhetorical and you're not expecting a response from me :).

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It's funny, for me, some parts appear in Spanish.

[VladimirG]

Thanks for the update Christina and Maria, this is really odd. I'll follow up with the team to check if the auto-translation is related to the form we shared itself or possibly to a setting on your end. In the meantime, sharing a screenshot of the form in English so you or any other users experiencing the same issue can complete it, if you choose to participate.

[feed_my_eyes]

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Petra R wrote:

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Vladimir G wrote:

Hi Christine,

Thanks for the screenshots. Since the text is displayed in English on my end, I'm wondering if it's possible that you're using a browser app that would auto-translate text into German?

---

Would that not translate all of it? And why would Christine set up a browser setting that translates only parts of only one single document into a language she does not speak?

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Petra's logic is infallible, as always. 😉

[feed_my_eyes]

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Vladimir G wrote:

Hi Christine,

Thanks for the screenshots. Since the text is displayed in English on my end, I'm wondering if it's possible that you're using a browser app that would auto-translate text into German?

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No, it's not possible; on the contrary, I've set my browser to always translate websites into English. I've never had Google translate any other website or forms into partial German - only this one.

[shetani]

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Christine A wrote:

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Vladimir G wrote:

Hi Christine,

Thanks for the screenshots. Since the text is displayed in English on my end, I'm wondering if it's possible that you're using a browser app that would auto-translate text into German?

---

No, it's not possible; on the contrary, I've set my browser to always translate websites into English. I've never had Google translate any other website or forms into partial German - only this one.

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FWIW, it's not a personal setting - some companies like Google auto-translate their pages to the primary language spoken in your location because they think it's somehow helpful. It will most often happen when you're accessing pages in incognito/private windows or from a new browser, because those don't have your preferred settings saved. And sometimes you just can't avoid it no matter what you set in your preferences.

On my end, the form is translated to Dutch (and so are my default Google Search results, Google Sheets/Docs menus, GoDaddy domain management page, PlayStation store, etc.), and I don't speak a word of Dutch. Navigating the internets has never been harder.

[feed_my_eyes]

Okay, but I live in England, so German is NOT the primary language spoken in my location.

[VladimirG]

In my personal opinion, you can take it as a compliment that Google recognizes you as polyglots, Christine, Maria and Ines, at least least to some extent. 

Thanks for sharing the most probable suspect for auto-translating the text, Ines!

[m_terrazas]

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Christine A wrote:

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Vladimir G wrote:

Hi Christine,

Thanks for the screenshots. Since the text is displayed in English on my end, I'm wondering if it's possible that you're using a browser app that would auto-translate text into German?

---

No, it's not possible; on the contrary, I've set my browser to always translate websites into English. I've never had Google translate any other website or forms into partial German - only this one.

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I don't have it set to translate into any language 😞
Only translate if I ask.