All I want for Christmas from UpWork....

[Petra R]

After the sad demise of the "Aussie voice" - meet the "UX/UI designer who is fond of colors and attractive designs and quiet"

All 500 of them... Rising Talents among them.

Already escalated to Trust & Safety as of a few minutes ago.

[Jennifer R]

What do you call it when there are 38 with the same photo?**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[Goran V]

Thank you for flagging this Jennifer,

I`ve already escalated it to our team to be investigated further. 

[Preston H]

re: "What do you call it when there are 38 with the same photo?"

I call it a good reason to take the time to create an automatic algorithm that checks newly submitted profile photos against all existing photos... in order to flag fraudulent freelancer activity.

[Petra R]

---

Preston H wrote:

I call it a good reason to take the time to create an automatic algorithm that checks newly submitted profile photos against all existing photos... in order to flag fraudulent freelancer activity.

---

And do the same with text.

It can't be that difficult to develop some algorithm that detects hundreds and hundreds of identical overviews. Those are all 100% identical.

The Aussie voices were dozens. These are hundreds.

The other fun things is that they are all identical, same text, same country, same education, same portfolio, same everything, yet a decent proportion has Rising Talent status...

[Virginia F]

---

Petra R wrote:

---

Preston H wrote:

I call it a good reason to take the time to create an automatic algorithm that checks newly submitted profile photos against all existing photos... in order to flag fraudulent freelancer activity.

---

And do the same with text.

It can't be that difficult to develop some algorithm that detects hundreds and hundreds of identical overviews. Those are all 100% identical.

The Aussie voices were dozens. These are hundreds.

The other fun things is that they are all identical, same text, same country, same education, same portfolio, same everything, yet a decent proportion has Rising Talent status...

---

I think it's high time Upwork gets rid of Rising Talent, or at least make sure it's a badge that is earned correctly - I have to believe the RT badge is also given by a flawed algorithm. Think of all the clients who use this as a requirement that are being duped.

[Christine A]

---

Virginia F wrote:

---

---

I think it's high time Upwork gets rid of Rising Talent, or at least make sure it's a badge that is earned correctly - I have to believe the RT badge is also given by a flawed algorithm. Think of all the clients who use this as a requirement that are being duped.

---

I completely agree. There are daily complaints from freelancers who don't understand why they haven't got Rising Talent status despite having fulfilled all of the requirements, and when I've looked at the profiles of those who have it versus those who don't, it definitely looks like it's determined by algorithm and not by merit. Those badges are very misleading and it's obvious that some people have figured out how to game the system.

[Renata S]

---

Christine A wrote:

---

Virginia F wrote:

---

---

I think it's high time Upwork gets rid of Rising Talent, or at least make sure it's a badge that is earned correctly - I have to believe the RT badge is also given by a flawed algorithm. Think of all the clients who use this as a requirement that are being duped.

---

I completely agree. There are daily complaints from freelancers who don't understand why they haven't got Rising Talent status despite having fulfilled all of the requirements, and when I've looked at the profiles of those who have it versus those who don't, it definitely looks like it's determined by algorithm and not by merit. Those badges are very misleading and it's obvious that some people have figured out how to game the system.

---

I guess we need to unequivocally state what the issue in all this is because I expect some people might be missing it: Not only is UpWork approving reams of fake profiles, but through the Rising Talent designation, they're also making a significant percentage of them look like they've been specially vetted by the company, thereby encouraging clients (especially new ones) to hire the people who produce them. 

[Rene K]

And now we have the Senior JavaScript developpers:

https://www.upwork.com/ab/profiles/search/?q=%22Here%20is%20for%20the%20picky%20ones%20who%20require...

Upwork: we never learn from our mistakes!

[Virginia F]

---

Rene K wrote:

And now we have the Senior JavaScript developpers:

https://www.upwork.com/ab/profiles/search/?q=%22Here%20is%20for%20the%20picky%20ones%20who%20require...

Upwork: we never learn from our mistakes!

---

And six, count 'em six, are "Rising Talent". Time to get rid of the RT program.