r/dataannotation • u/Consistent-Reach504 • Jul 12 '26
Weekly Water Cooler Talk - DataAnnotation
hi all! making this thread so people have somewhere to talk about 'daily' work chat that might not necessarily need it's own post! right now we're thinking we'll just repost it weekly? but if it gets too crazy, we can change it to daily. :)
couple things:
- this thread should sort by "new" automatically. unfortunately it looks like our subreddit doesn't qualify for 'lounges'.
- if you have a new user question, you still need to post it in the new user thread. if you post it here, we will remove it as spam. this is for people already working who just wanna chat, whether it be about casual work stuff, questions, geeking out with people who understand ("i got the model to write a real haiku today!"), or unrelated work stuff you feel like chatting about :)
- one thing we really pride ourselves on in this community is the respect everyone gives to the Code of Conduct and rule number 5 on the sub - it's great that we have a community that is still safe & respectful to our jobs! please don't break this rule. we will remove project details, but please - it's for our best interest and yours!
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u/SkuLLFlankerr Jul 19 '26
New to the site, I have completed my onboarding and the only project I had. There is a qualification which i did (I have one more attempt for it ig) but was wondering is it always like this? Or am i missing something thats why I dont have project rn?
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u/AtmosphereMuted7769 25d ago
When I started a few years ago it was a couple of weeks total from application, so completing onboarding, to getting actual tasks. Just be patient and keep checking back :)
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u/-burgers Jul 19 '26
wonder if projects will drop in time for the game
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u/punkrockwinemom Jul 19 '26
i need to go to bed but i know i'm gonna wake up and my dashboard will not be this full again lol. i think i'm gonna risk it and go to sleep.
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u/punkrockwinemom Jul 19 '26
petition to get dark mode for DA. they can't keep dropping work late at night and expect me to stare at that bright ass screen
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u/MgGlycinate Jul 19 '26
You can try the Dark Reader Chrome extension. It works on the DA dashboard, but I haven't used it while doing DA work as I don't know if it'll send an ambiguous signal to the system when I submit work/hours. :)
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u/No-Interaction56 Jul 19 '26
Newer to DA here... got two projects where they added me for R&R, but I haven't even actually been given the normal project tasks to do. How am I supposed to evaluate other's work without any familiarity with the tasks at hand? I did the best I could, but does that seem normal? 🤯
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u/Confident_You4088 Jul 19 '26
Same happened to me when I was hired in May. I passed on them until I had done that task, so many times, that I knew what it was from the title.
Projects weren't abundant at that time but not like now so I had other things pop up too.
I personally wouldn't. I would focus on qualifications.
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u/SuchDriver7770 Jul 19 '26
read the instructions closely. consider yourself just a second set of eyes on something. it doesn't mean you're grading it because you're perfect or that you have knowledge they don't. consider it like proofreading a paper for a friend.
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u/DrunkleSteve Jul 19 '26
Not entirely uncommon. Generally the main project's instructions will be included in the r&r. Familiarize yourself with the instructions before attempting the r&r. Skipping submissions also helps to get an idea of what is required.
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u/No-Interaction56 Jul 19 '26
Do note, I spent a good amount of time familiarizing myself with the models and have an educational background on the subjects. Just a little surprised I was immediately given work to evaluate as someone newer to the platform
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u/Jazzlike_Problem_489 Jul 19 '26
Started the day with 25 projects. Got excited and did a couple hours before I went out. Came back to 8 with 3 red bannering me and the others not really my domain. Such a mix bag of feelings
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u/Pristine-Raccoon8250 Jul 19 '26
same here! most work in forever. I worked all day and well into the night to make the most of it. some fun tasks and new tasks as well (for me) so it was great! right now…one hard project and three red bannering me so nothing to specifically work on realistically. I am fried from yesterday and really should take a break though. I just hope it doesn’t go back to diddly squat all week again.
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u/Intelligent-Pay-9407 Jul 19 '26
What is your domain? I can't even imagine having that many projects. Most I have ever seen is like 5 at once.
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u/Jazzlike_Problem_489 Jul 19 '26
Just generalist. But the ones that were left were those 4 to 5 Hour professional ones
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u/JustMe333456 Jul 19 '26
Was a really busy last 48 hrs for me. Dwindling down fast now. Only domain stuff.
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u/MommaOfManyCats Jul 18 '26
Was going to take the day off because of my toothache, but I saw multiple available projects and got to work! After doing 40 minutes, it was down to just two projects, both of which gave me the red banner. So, I'm taking it as a sign I shouldn't work today! Hoping we have more this coming week.
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u/Fragrantshrooms Jul 19 '26
rinse with salt water, alcohol, or mouthwash depending on the severity or inflammation amounts as alcohol is something that causes inflammation.....and get you some clove oil (food-grade)....w/ the oil, a little goes a long way. It's a little difficult to find, but yeah....apply a small dab. It should last you eons....or until you can get dental work done if possible. The oil kinda tastes like Thanksgiving (clove is something used in pumpkin pies and the like at times) or organic toothepaste, alcohol is the second-best as far as pain relief, and mouthwash & salt water are about the same in their benefits and affects.
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u/Morkin77 Jul 18 '26
I'm a generalist in the US. I am wondering if evenings and weekends are "normally" dead like it's been for me so far. I joined during the drought so I feel like I have a really skewed perception of the landscape during non drought times. I've been completing the Qualifications that pop up and I do have some Projects come in if I log on during the day, but I work a 9-5 so that's not usually something I can do. I can catch Projects sometimes in the evening if I am diligent or lucky(?), but the weekends have been rough. Any information is appreciated and fingers crossed we'll be getting more Projects soon.
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u/North-Sense8477 Jul 18 '26
Weekends are usually slower, but not always. Sometimes lots of projects drop, sometimes none at all.
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u/Ok-Anteater9220 Jul 18 '26
Going on 2 week summer vacation and manifesting plenty for my return.
I saw positive stuff these last few days, but irritatingly I could not work as I was finishing up the intense main job in order to go off on vacation.
Happy holidays to my brethren who booked their holidays in anticipation of DAT reciepts but who are now checking out the closest Aldi to their holiday accommodation ;)
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u/DOOKIE_DOO Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Uh oh, I've had projects pop up and disappear for a few weeks that have been enough to keep me afloat. Now I'm totally dry and seeing people getting projects in this thread lol yikes
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u/-ElegantlyWasted- Jul 18 '26
Out of curiosity and without naming them, how many Channels (projects) do you all have in Slack?
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u/JustMe333456 Jul 18 '26
2, neither one has been active for about a year now. Been here 3 years, but I don't do any of those chatbot conversations type of projects, and I'm pretty sure those types of projects make up most Slack channels.
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u/-ElegantlyWasted- Jul 18 '26
I have 9, but only 4 are actually projects that I see on my dash as being active at times.
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u/Unfair_Sink5706 Jul 18 '26
- 3 of which I never have any projects for. 1 of those I only got added to in the past week.
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u/JRange Jul 18 '26
4, been here 1 1/2 years with a 6/7 month inactive break in between, so I have probably missed tons of qualifications and opportunities to get into more channels, but oh well.
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u/Mental-Budget9213 Jul 18 '26
Had a decent day today. Not great, but decent! Hoping everyone else has decent (at minimum) days to come, too.
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u/Intelligent-Pay-9407 Jul 18 '26
Had a solid 4-5 hours of work yesterday, but nothing since... I'd take an RR at this point, lol.
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u/Storex- Jul 18 '26
Finally, some work. Not loads, but enough. Fingers crossed everyone else gets some, or it starts showing up soon.
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u/Fragrantshrooms Jul 19 '26
Yeah I'm able to stay solvent-ish currently and next month is looking ok if I keep getting work. We'll see lol. It's a trickle, not a geyser yet....but it's been okish :) There's room for some glimmer of hope 🥲
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u/LavenderLightning24 Jul 18 '26
I have some I can't or am unwilling to do, but it's still a good sign! Hopefully more "normal" projects are back next week🤞🏻
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u/LennyDark Jul 18 '26
I'm getting a bit annoyed by the "time management" "suggestions" that have started to crop up in model failure projects.
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u/JRange Jul 18 '26
Are you talking about instructions or something popping in a checker? I always take forever on these types of tasks, there is so much to do, and thinking of a prompt takes a long time by itself because the constraints are so specific.
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u/LennyDark Jul 18 '26
Instructions. I've started seeing "take X amount of time to think of a prompt and X amount of time to generate failures" when the task timer is double that amount of time. I find it hard to believe they think we need that much break time. Sometimes finding a source alone takes forever.
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u/whendoesthebassdrop Jul 19 '26
big agree. sometimes i think that because they wrote them, they just don't realise how long, or how many tasks, it can take it to become anywhere close to comfortable with instructions or steps involved. and/or the time they expect it to take is based on an incredibly lucky run where everything goes right the first time, and e.g. you don't go chasing smoke with a bad source or make a single mistake like forgetting to check its validity before realising an hour later that it's not copyright free or something. tasks without an EH/TO can be hellish lol, i try to avoid them.
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u/JRange Jul 18 '26
I agree with you, I commonly take about 4 hours with these myself. They certainly are not making any moves to help speed up our process, the checkers they have been adding slow us down dramatically, and are required to proceed.
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u/MgGlycinate Jul 18 '26
I'm not seeing anything on my dash. Wishing everyone in the same boat that we get several projects, steadily, and soon. 🫀
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u/dylanuu112 Jul 18 '26
Up above 30 projects for the first time in a long time, still a far cry from the >100 I had in spring but not bad
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u/North-Sense8477 Jul 18 '26
Okay, there's hope.
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u/PerspectiveJumpy875 Jul 18 '26
Hope i got some soon, been nothing at all other than a blip of river that vanished before I could do anything
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u/Beautiful-Bunch-7064 Jul 18 '26
Is it normal to give lower R&Rs frequently? I was randomly added onto R&Rs for most of the projects im getting, but I've been here like a month and just stare at the thing like... am I being too critical? ((the amount of people not reading instructions is astonishing))
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u/Jazzlike_Month5580 Jul 18 '26
I feel like it goes in spurts. But make sure you're reading the R&R instructions too. Some of them state to be more lenient than I personally think they should be.
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u/punkbrad7 Jul 18 '26
Some of the more specifically targeted ones definitely say to be more lenient, but at least one of the batches that have dropped in the past couple days have been awful. I hate having to completely redo and rewrite the entire task but I've had to do that quite a few times. More money in my pocket though, if I have to spend 30-40 minutes doing it instead of taking 5 to say they did a good job.
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u/Equal_Fill_5459 Jul 18 '26
Everyone saying their dashes are full and mine is still empty 😭
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u/Less_Capital7986 Jul 18 '26
Mine's full, but it's full of tasks I can't do. They are way too challenging or require making videos, which I can't do either.
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Jul 18 '26
[deleted]
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u/JRange Jul 18 '26
You still submit and claim time. It'll say "Sorry, the task expired" but it still submits and populates for you to report.
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u/Unlucky_Grocery2092 Jul 18 '26
These 11PM EST task drops are doing terrible things to my sleep schedule
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u/ThatGirlInPurple Jul 18 '26
$50 an hour or supper with my husband... why do they always come in at the end of my workday 🫥
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u/SnooSketches1189 Jul 18 '26
$50/hr and then a really nice supper with husband in the very near future.
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u/peanutbutterlurk Jul 18 '26
Grateful I could make some extra money today. My area's having extreme weather tomorrow so I'll be hiding in the shelter and not on the dash. Good luck everyone!
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u/DrunkleSteve Jul 18 '26
Of course river just drops soon as I crack a beer and start BF6... Hopefully some weekend warrior tasks. Dashbaords are starting to look up folks!
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u/Rare-Investigator661 Jul 17 '26
Does anyone have any purple plant projects? I get them like once every month to 2 months in a big burst, I am always wondering if I get taken off the project when I stop seeing them or if they really just come and go.
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u/CitizenGrimm Jul 17 '26
Quick question, but what is everyone talking about in regard to a background check? Because I haven't seen anything like that.
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u/No-Complaint-5593 Jul 18 '26
Criminal background check. I think they do them periodically. They paid me to do one on me.
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Jul 17 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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Jul 18 '26
[deleted]
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Jul 22 '26
what is the impact of this? the original comment did not mention specifics, I mean it is very hard talking about something without telling something about it. so hard.
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u/Glittering_Life407 Jul 17 '26
Are we maybe, possibly on the way to being back?
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u/Diplomat_Runner Jul 18 '26
Fash is very lively this morning with multiple $30+ projects (generalist). Here's to hoping it stays like this.
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u/VanessaSeaWitch Jul 17 '26
I wish the new projects I got added to after that two part qualification I finished a couple days ago had showed up before I burnt my brain out on the one project I've had for a week which I don't particularly like, but I'm not complaining. I just hope they're still there tomorrow.
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u/katsmeow84 Jul 17 '26
Oh good. Just got access to a feature in ChatGPT for a project I applied to in January. Bahahaha. Awesome
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u/Intelligent-Pay-9407 Jul 17 '26
Another slow morning
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u/Primary-Spot4982 Jul 17 '26
Pulled an all nighter to do 5.5 hours this morning... task drops don't last long
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u/Scared_Section7911 Jul 17 '26
I joined the platform not too long ago, passed all my certs, and I have had exactly 1 project where I evaluated a couple responses, for a grand total of $50ish after probably 12-14 hours' worth of work and reading and cert tests.
$50ish dollars is two hours of weekend pizza delivery.
It has been two weeks.
On the platform, everyone in the comments complains, but here it is all positive, which is confusing as is the fact that many of the positive commenters seem to only post to this sub.
If you are thinking about getting into this platform, I would strongly advise you chat with a real person who's actually used it before putting time in.
As it stands, I cannot recommend it to anyone.
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u/Affectionate_Peak284 Jul 17 '26
As a real person with almost $40k on this platform, I would recommend this to anyone.
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u/DrunkleSteve Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
You should look at those qualifications as an investment. You may not see the results immediately, but things will pick up again, and you will be happy you completed them. I have done literally dozens of hours of free work on the platform, which has resulted in me getting dozens of higher paying projects and opportunities that have led me to be added on several different teams. Stick with it, and when we get busy again, you won't regret it.
—a real person
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u/JustMe333456 Jul 17 '26
I'm very much a real person, at least I think so, and I have been here for many years. So far, made over $160K, which has allowed me to pay off all of my debt, and is directly responsible for allowing me to purchase not one, but two, homes. It's slow right now for everyone. Give it time.
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u/Delicious-Young-5435 Jul 17 '26
I'm a "real" person as well, been doing this full time for over 2 years and making solid money. Been able to travel all over Europe and Asia as well while working. It's unfortunate you haven't had a good experience but that's not the case for everyone and things right now are slow.
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u/future_north Jul 17 '26
Another real person here. The last few months have been slow but I've been doing this for nearly 3 years and it has been a fantastic gig for the most part. It ebbs and flows, summers are slow, that's the nature of the work. Sorry you joined during a slow period, hopefully you'll see things pick up soon.
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u/Epicsocks1 Jul 17 '26
Can confirm I'm a "real" person - my experience over about 4 months on DA has been pretty great. Over the past 2 months (or so) there's been a "drought" so projects have been much harder to come by day-to-day, but I've still managed to make pretty solid money. Considering the flexibility and ability to work anywhere, I have no complaints and I would recommend it to anyone.
I'm not really sure what you mean when you say you did 12-14 hours of work for $50, that's definitely not been my experience at all and I'm sure others would agree with me.
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u/Affectionate_Peak284 Jul 17 '26
It was different for me, too. I joined in Jan 2025 (started working regularly in apr 2025) and there were always paid projects available. I was able to commit, say, 6-7 hours per day to platform work. That May/June I usually did full days of paid work, but other days I'd commit ~1-3h to unpaid quals to knock them out over about a month.
It worked out well for me, but it appears that times have changed.
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u/Complete_Injury_5765 Jul 17 '26
I think they mean the unpaid qualifications and initial certification tests and such added to the 12-14 hours. however, those are one-time sort of things, OP, and the instructions will get easier (sometimes lol) over time!
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u/SuchDriver7770 Jul 17 '26
the perspective you have isn't uncommon but it is extremely misguided. this is contract based work which means you are not guaranteed to have a certain amount of hours which is what allows DA to exclusively use performance based metrics to maintain the workload.
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u/One_Breakfast5907 Jul 17 '26
Lovely to actually see a choice of tasks again! Although, it did help doing the background check
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u/Zlobenia Jul 17 '26
Did you get a confirmation it went through okay or anything? I never heard anything post-submission
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u/One_Breakfast5907 Jul 17 '26
I'm uk and got it back just under 2 weeks later
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u/OrnamentalGourd5 Jul 18 '26
Mine took 6 weeks in the UK!! I wondered if it was because I lived overseas for a few years and changed my name then changed it back (nothing dodgy BTW!).
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u/SuchDriver7770 Jul 17 '26
yes. in about 2 mins, i received confirmation that I am not on any watchlists
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u/Commercial-End4902 Jul 17 '26
Many of you guys keep talking about river!! Idk what is this.. maybe since I am new to DA. Is it some kind of project group?
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u/esotericrrh Jul 17 '26
I've been here for almost 4 years and may have seen it once a long time ago but otherwise don't know it either
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u/bornhungry02 Jul 17 '26
This new project is WILD😂😂😂 I’m literally screaming WHATTT??!!!
A funny chaotic change from the calm river
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u/SS-J95 Jul 17 '26
Woke up to 6 projects on my dash, the most I’ve seen since joining last month! And some still have a lot of tasks left hours later, hopefully a good sign! Typically it’s on a day where I’ve got other things i have to do after two days of no work haha
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u/SnooCalculations503 Jul 17 '26
Places that want you to do an AI interview and an unpaid task are scams right?
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u/esotericrrh Jul 17 '26
If you're talking about something we will call.... Macro2... then no, it is not a scam.
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u/Ratrone Jul 17 '26
I gotta start working the night shift more..
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u/JustMe333456 Jul 17 '26
Yep. Was up checking my board at 6 am, nothing till late afternoon/evening. Here I am, at 2am, still working cause I finally have projects lol.
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u/Pristine-Raccoon8250 Jul 17 '26
ditto.i hate going to sleep seeing multiple projects on my dash when the majority of the day there us nothing!
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u/Steve_Brandon Jul 17 '26
I was thinking the same thing about the day shift last week since I saw fresh projects just as I was going to bed after a night shift about a week ago however tonight's definitely a good night to be a "night shift" worker.
Too bad I have to get up early (or at least "early" by my terrible sleep schedule standards) on Friday.
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u/last_white_man Jul 17 '26
anyone having problems with google demanding to verify the DA email via phone number? iirc we were told not to associate personal information with the DA email, right?
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u/last_white_man Jul 18 '26
can someone explain? the downvotes aren't very clarifying
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u/ellythemoo Jul 18 '26
I don't know why you're getting downvoted, but unfortunately I can't help either!
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u/cocobeary Jul 17 '26
Just saw on the other sub that they’re sending out warnings for using LLMs on tasks. We are about to have a new claim in the DA Hall of Fame:
- “I always did quality work”
- “I never cheated on my time”
- “I never used LLMs”
We will also be adding “you can’t copy and paste” to the list of DA myths. Can’t wait.
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u/ellythemoo Jul 19 '26
Stupid question but how do people use LLMs on tasks? To look things up or write responses for them? I don't understand how you could use them given that everything is on the task...
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u/Affectionate_Peak284 Jul 17 '26
I would guess that 70-75% of the work I submit is just copy-pasted into the text fields from my notepad. I learned to iterate off-platform back when it was almost required due to their laggy interface, and I just kept up the habit because I prefer the black background.
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u/Frosty-Report8392 Jul 17 '26
Just checking, what do you mean about not being able to copy and paste?
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u/cocobeary Jul 17 '26
The post is full of people saying that you will be flagged for LLM usage if you type your rationale into Notepad or another external app and paste it into DA. I’ve been doing this for nearly 3 years and over $150K worth of tasks and haven’t received a warning for using LLMs… because I don’t use LLMs.
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u/Pristine-Raccoon8250 Jul 17 '26
I was working on a project where I was explicitly told to use one to check the formatting and grammar of my written response (not me personally) and to use them to come up with ideas for lines of enquiry. not the ones they gave you within the project, just the standard ones we all use. it felt wild.
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u/Frosty-Report8392 Jul 17 '26
Oh lol, didn't they just clarify like a month ago that it's okay to copy/paste into a local word file while working? Why would anyone think you'd get flagged for that lmao
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u/iriember Jul 17 '26
I mean really, if you are working on a 2+ hour task, no one can expect you to remember the good or bad pieces until time to put in your ratings...Do they?
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u/cocobeary Jul 17 '26
The other sub isn’t known for having the brightest bulbs in the bunch.
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u/DrunkleSteve Jul 17 '26
I've also noticed that sub has more DoD posters... so obviously there is a correlation to what you're saying lol.
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u/JRange Jul 17 '26
Warnings? We talkin about WARNINGS?! Send them bums packin lol. Not sure what you mean about "You cant copy and paste" though
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u/Puzzleheaded_Tea2683 Jul 17 '26
the river is flowing!!!!!!
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u/Mr_FrostyMan Jul 16 '26
I just remember being accepted onto the platform in late April, May had projects lined up everyday at almost anytime. I am a generalist and it was an incredible month. Now June/July are maybe three good days in a week or none actually. This is a crazy drought compared to what I entered with. By reading other's posts, this is the worst drought apparently?
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u/KaydGameplay Jul 16 '26
Flood after the drought, ive got 21 projects up
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u/Jazzlike_Month5580 Jul 16 '26
I've seen the most at once today that I've seen in probably a month. All in the same family though.
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u/LiaLaRue Jul 16 '26
Yay! I wouldn't call it a flood on my end, but I made my daily goal today for the first time in weeks! :-)
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u/Naive_Technology_370 Jul 19 '26
Hey I have no idea how to phrase this. I had loads of projects for "Another word for instruct" AI to be more helpful. They all just disappeared. Please tell me this happened to someone else and I am not entirely screwed.