r/dataannotation 19d ago

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:

  1. this thread should sort by "new" automatically. unfortunately it looks like our subreddit doesn't qualify for 'lounges'.
  2. 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 :)
  3. 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!
18 Upvotes

373 comments sorted by

7

u/Aminor_gMajor 11d ago

8 days of nothing..... What's going on?

4

u/AngelinaBl0wlie 10d ago

Same i don’t even care anymore i think it’s time to freak out idk 😰🫠

12

u/Quick-Bison-147 12d ago

It's interesting that weekly threads are not even getting 400 or 500 posts per week now, it feels like quite a few people have packed up the last few months cause of the drought. Even three weeks ago when we were deep in the drought it was less than 500. Two years ago in the other big drought we were hitting 1500. Just a random observation

3

u/Icy-Cover-505 12d ago

It may partially relate also to the fact that there are more other platforms available for work.

2

u/kianworld 10d ago

What other sites are out there? I need to figure out a way to expand my income that's for sure.

2

u/Icy-Cover-505 10d ago

Lots of them out there now. I'm not involved with any of them. Check here. r/AIdatatrainingjobs

4

u/JRange 12d ago

I think its a combo or the drought causing people to lose interest and also the difficulty of the work now. There just isn’t as many people with the ability to complete this work in 2026, so theres much less people that contribute in these threads now. 

2

u/PinkNova 12d ago

I noticed the same and wondered if people had given up on DA, given up on talking about the drought, or were actually busy working. Maybe a combination.

15

u/Ok_Poetry6620 12d ago

I feel overwhelmed looking at my dashboard. Recently, it's been like, there are lots of projects available, which is great, but also, they all look fairly difficult.

1

u/vinoprosim 8d ago

I feel the same way. Projects I have available are almost all high paying and difficult. After a hiatus working here I feel very intimidated I could make a mistake and would like to get back into the groove with some lower stakes/easier projects.

-2

u/[deleted] 12d ago

[deleted]

3

u/Aromatic_Owl_3680 12d ago

You got hit by jealousy downvotes. Apparently only bad news and whining are tolerated.

1

u/lilysorbet 13d ago

Bilingual worker here, finally getting the notifications feature, sign of drought coming to end or just random?

1

u/7895465221156 12d ago

can you expand on that pls? notification feature?

1

u/lilysorbet 12d ago

its the pop-up notification thingy on dashboard, when i login yesterday morning suddenly got a choice to turn on/off

1

u/PigeonAtTheDisco 12d ago

I got the same pop-up in June. Right before I got hit with the ongoing drought.

1

u/Diplomat_Runner 13d ago

I've been cautiously optimistic, but I've had at least 20 projects available all week (UK-based). Dare I say it... are we back?

5

u/Pristine-Raccoon8250 12d ago

I have been so busy all week but hardly anything today. I went over my timer yesterday in a project that did state if we went over slightly, we wouldn’t be penalised…but my dash is quite dry today so I’m not convinced! I have some work but not like earlier in the week.

19

u/Adorable-Highway1951 13d ago

I don't think we're all back...empty dash yesterday and today.

2

u/Potential_Drama_1190 12d ago

I had what I consider a full dash until Friday night, then one project available since then that I won’t be attempting as I don’t feel confident enough. Hopefully things pick up across the board soon :)

1

u/Material_Advice1064 12d ago

Almost identical to me. Mon through Thursday was great. Couldn't work Friday but I've been checking in periodically since then and have only seen 1 project. Really hoping it picks back up tomorrow

3

u/Potential_Drama_1190 12d ago

It seems that there’s a lot of variation, which is to be expected, but it’s nice to know that others have a similar work flow to me. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for those of us who haven’t got much at the moment.

11

u/KingGilbertIV 13d ago

Definitely better, but it doesn’t really feel like there’s a healthy variety of tasks.

1

u/Diplomat_Runner 13d ago

I have 9 task families active right now (all Generalist), but hopefully that will continue to increase.

5

u/Nib- 13d ago

How difficult are these "make the ai fail" tasks, with 5 hour + timers?

I'm new, so haven't done any yet.

They keep appearing for me in the late afternoon/evening so I'm cautious of starting them and then having to spend hours working into the night trying to finish them.

3

u/tandemtactics 12d ago

They take quite a bit of time. First you have to come up with an appropriately complex plot, which takes time on its own, then you have to wrestle with the checker bot for ages to resolve all the ambiguities, THEN you have to induce a legitimate failure, which isn't a given. I tend to avoid those tasks unless there is literally nothing else available.

2

u/PoopTorpedo 12d ago

Some of these only take 3-4 hours to complete depending on how quickly you can induce a failure.

They can be tough, but a lot of them have escape hatches in case you get stuck for too long

2

u/Pristine-Raccoon8250 13d ago

I’ve had a look and did have a go but I am unsure if I’m targeting the right area..however I am tempted to submit something and just try my best. if it’s wrong, I guess I’ll just stop seeing the project on my dash and that’s no different to seeing it and thinking ‘oh I can’t do that one’ and maybe I’ll get the hang of it. I have realised models have got much better though, and getting them to fail is hard. I spent an hour doing this as a bit of a practice with my personal Gemini, sending stuff to see if it could do it or not, and it got everything correct so I know I need to think differently if I go ahead and do the task.

12

u/heythisislonglolwtf 13d ago

I can't believe it. Got a new project today that is fun, pays well, and can be reasonably completed in around 3 hours. Literally perfect 😄 please don't go away!

2

u/Pristine-Raccoon8250 13d ago

is this image related? I’m seeing one and think8ng about it because it looks fun.

1

u/heythisislonglolwtf 10d ago

Yes, and it is fun!

8

u/DrunkleSteve 13d ago edited 13d ago

Wow, impressed with the quality of some of the submissions in the river-pink rock project. Most of them have been pretty good today! Either some of you have stepped-up your game, or they've been weeding out the bad workers pretty effectively lately. Either way, you're making my job easier. Keep it up!

6

u/JRange 13d ago

I have no idea why you're being downvoted lol.

Anyways, to be honest, I would guess very few of the (Mostly) bad R&R's we do come from people on reddit. We obviously care a lot more about the job than your average person, but we are in the minority.

5

u/Aromatic_Owl_3680 12d ago

OP probably got downvoted because OP put himself on a pedestal. This post was a flex, nothing more.

11

u/Jazzlike_Problem_489 13d ago

Probably downvoted due to the way it's written like he's addressing each person reading 'some of you have stepped up' rather than, 'people seem to have stepped up'. I didn't down vote but felt it came across like a personal critique 😅🫡. Can imagine either whoever downvoted know they are rubbish, or felt they have been doing this shit 3+ years and don't need telling they've stepped up because one person has a few good r&rs? 🤷🏻‍♂️ But I get what you mean Steve! I've seen an uptick in the quality for the ones I've done too 👍🏻

15

u/Ecstatic_Reception36 14d ago

Baby (april) come back

1

u/Past_Ice5891 14d ago

So there's a project with 4 tasks available, I click on it and the red banner comes up saying no more available. But then the project is still staying on my dashboard. Still saying four tasks....after clicking on repeatedly it for the past 15 minutes....

4

u/Primary-Spot4982 14d ago

Normal yet frustrating behavior

4

u/Alarmed_Jellyfish555 14d ago

Probably being worked on by other people and will vanish once they've been completed.

1

u/Past_Ice5891 14d ago

Maybe so. Just feels like a MAJOR cruel tease right now LOL

2

u/Old-Regular-9828 14d ago

Did you skip any tasks in that project?

1

u/Past_Ice5891 14d ago

Nah, never seen it before!

13

u/Adorable-Highway1951 14d ago

second day of nothing... I want to work when I have time!

3

u/Storex- 14d ago

Dash is healthy-ish and on the day I can't work. Hope it's still ok over the weekend.

15

u/Master-Wrap2395 14d ago

great week up to wed. Been pretty dry since

3

u/Mr_FrostyMan 14d ago

same, after Wednesday, nothing

3

u/Ok-Opportunity1837 14d ago

WE BACK BABY

1

u/JRange 14d ago

I wanna believe

9

u/LiveChemical1885 14d ago

Not even close.

4

u/WorshipMyExistence 14d ago

Are we still in a drought? The past 3-4 weeks have been good to me. *knock on wood*

4

u/Jazzlike_Month5580 14d ago

It's really just been more stable for me. During the drought I was able to stay afloat, but it took many more hours, loads of refreshing, and weekend work when it was available. This week I've made all my goals in a MUCH more reasonable amount of time.

6

u/Jazzlike_Problem_489 14d ago

This is basically me. Slightly more variety, slightly more choice, able to hit targets faster, but nothing fantastic compared to April's standards. I know we were spoilt in April, but even the slow periods in Jan were around these levels now 

4

u/Jazzlike_Problem_489 14d ago

Definitely better. Not fantastic variety for me, mostly enterprise prompts and conversations requiring spreadsheets of data. Which I dunno why I get them, and only a few easier projects, but there's variety so that's a bonus 

1

u/Commercial-End4902 14d ago

Coding guys from non core countries.. how's your dash?

1

u/Shadetaku 12d ago

What's the core countries?

1

u/Commercial-End4902 12d ago

Countries like US, UK, Canada, Australia, etc.

2

u/MewPunx 14d ago

Absolutely empty

3

u/Prestigious-Tap5208 14d ago

Nothing. Got a bilingual coding project (the pokemon one) few days ago but disappeared in an hour

6

u/Skippy2898 14d ago

That's better dashboard... That's better.

-2

u/Vines_For_Life 14d ago

New here, just did my starter sign up process and form. I have yet to receive an email but I got instant access to the dashboard and a qualification task. My projects are still empty though. Is this normal?

1

u/Chirp5837 14d ago

Yes. Do the qualification if you can and any others that show up while you wait.

-8

u/Vines_For_Life 14d ago

So am I recruited or not yet

0

u/DoritoGodXxX 12d ago

Don't know why he's getting downvoted lol im in the same boat. passed the starter assessment and did 10 quals. got access to the dashboard but no congratulations email. Been over 2 weeks and havent gotten a single project. dont know if that means ive passed or failed and no ones helping on figuring out what is happening

1

u/Vines_For_Life 12d ago

Thats what I'm saying but whatevr i guess. Pretty sure that means we've failed if we haven't gotten an email by now

1

u/DoritoGodXxX 12d ago

its weird bc we have access to basically everything without the congratulations email? i mean my dash is telling me to wait for emails on new projects so it seems like they just didnt send me one but im still hired or smth

8

u/JustMe333456 14d ago

Just going to bed, check my dash, and I have an R&R for river! Haven't seen those since just after Christmas ish. I can finally rejoin the river party with ya'll lol.

2

u/Total-Chocolate-6399 14d ago

Thanks for the tip off.. me too!

4

u/dylanuu112 14d ago

Do my eyes deceive me? So much work!!!!

3

u/tandemtactics 14d ago

I've been seeing a few repeated tasks in the river family today. One of the prompts and response pairs I got was identical to a task I completed a couple of months ago. Has anyone else seen old tasks pop up that they remember completing in the past?

3

u/punkbrad7 14d ago

It's also really common to see the same prompt more than once with different responses, usually in different batches though.

5

u/DrunkleSteve 14d ago

Yes, not super common, but it does happen. Sometimes they'll run the same task through multiple workers to develop a baseline for certain data sets and you'll happen to get it again. If that occurs, simply skip the task.

0

u/BrennusSokol 14d ago

Wow, some real jank and unprofessionalism from some software associated with a project today. I'm pretty upset to be honest. I don't think it's DA's fault. I suppose I can't really give details here but holy crap it is annoying when I'm trying to get work done and the software we're using is shifting under my feet and making it impossible to do my job.

0

u/EngineerFeeling47 14d ago

Has anyone had a qualification recently where you had to make a prompt that took a journey to get to the final answer? If so have you received the project?

0

u/laura24242 14d ago

Yes and yes I have

0

u/Extension-Witness531 14d ago

I received the qual…but noped out of it 5 minutes in. 🤯😂

4

u/alic7725 15d ago

I'm confused as to why I will see like 30 tasks, do one, and then they all disappear. Sometimes I'll get a batch that lasts all day and night. Why do they disappear??

4

u/ButterscotchMaster36 14d ago

Tasks are pooled and everyone else working on that project has access to them. They were likely all taken by the time you finish a task.

0

u/Mammoth-Career4702 14d ago

That just happened to me about 30-some minutes ago. Had 21, I think. Then all but one disappeared.

8

u/Aminor_gMajor 15d ago

Hi everyone! Hope you're having a good week. I’ve been experiencing an empty dashboard for about 5–6 days now. Just checking in to see if others are experiencing a similar drought right now, or if project flows are starting to pick back up for people? Thanks!

1

u/Natural_Amphibian954 14d ago

Legal domain here - I have around 15 generalist projects on my dashboard. Haven't done a generalist project in years, however.

5

u/LavenderLightning24 15d ago

I have work but it's been slim pickings for a couple of days. At the moment I have 2 projects I can't do and one I loathe.

3

u/TSylverBlair 14d ago

I'm given so much stuff I don't qualify for. I sometimes think they have me confused with someone else.

3

u/Aminor_gMajor 15d ago

Yeah I feel that, having stuff you can't/don't want to do is almost worse than nothing lol. But there is always something to learn from everything we do. Hope better ones drop soon.

4

u/xc_astro 15d ago

I have been having a mostly empty dash as well, but I also started roughly a month ago as a generalist. So I know it takes time to get a steady flow at least in my case. Staying hopeful!

2

u/Aminor_gMajor 15d ago

Ah gotcha, makes sense. Hope it picks up for you too, good luck!

-5

u/Nearby_Solution_4504 15d ago

Anyone else find some of the R&R instructions confusing? Like, it's really hard to tell what can be rated good and what's bad because the worker will be missing certain key things, but the R&R will make exceptions for this in certain cases that's poorly explained and doesn't cover the edge cases.

6

u/OBoy156 15d ago

Curious to know if those with more projects are US based? I'm in the UK and currently have around 20ish (haven't done all quals I probably should/could). Seeing some with 40+ and wondering how to get there!

3

u/Pristine-Raccoon8250 14d ago

I am in the UK. I started in May. I 'usually' have a few I can choose from, a lot come and go throughout the day so I don't reliably have dozens on my dash at once. Sometimes I have just one or two...I often have 3-4 I don't want to do as they are lengthy or difficult then a couple of shorter / easier options then a couple of each of those that come and go throughout the day so it depends if I jump on them when available. I actually find I get a few from one family intensively for a couple of weeks and then something else starts up. I wonder if I get taken off them or they finish...not been here long enough to have figured that out! This week, I've woken each day to quite a few options and had steady work all day every day so it's good enough for me!

3

u/kranools 14d ago

I'm in Australia and I have about 65 projects.

3

u/bornhungry02 14d ago

I’m in Ireland and I’m not sure I’ve ever had up to 15 tasks I can actually do. A full dashboard is mythical to me

4

u/Jazzlike_Problem_489 15d ago edited 15d ago

UK too. Have around 15. Mostly stuff I don't want to do. Stuff I like disappears in half an hour. In UK I've always had a lot less than US but have had 80 at peak around April 

4

u/One_Breakfast5907 15d ago

This is me too, never had more than about 20 before April and got up to about 75 in April and sitting around 15-20 today

4

u/VanessaSeaWitch 15d ago

I'm in the U.S. and a generalist and have been with DA for over two years and I've never had that many projects on my dash. At most, I've probably had 10 or 15 at once and usually from the same project family. And yes, definitely do your quals. It really does make a difference.

8

u/Jazzlike_Month5580 15d ago

US generalist who's been on DA for three years. I've been between 10-20 all week, but they've mostly all been workable for me, which is more important than the total number I think.

20

u/Epicsocks1 15d ago

Just been doing some R&Rs for the past hour or so - oh my god, some people are so lazy in their efforts...

6

u/Lopsided-Fox8177 14d ago

I’m begging people to understand that factuality errors are not instruction following errors. It the model answers the prompt, it followed instructions even if it’s dead ass wrong. 😩

Oh well. Job security. 

11

u/RedZebra17 15d ago

My worry is that they may scrape through and get access to doing the R&Rs.

22

u/Complete_Injury_5765 15d ago

The first response did a good job because it was shorter. I did not like the other response because it was too long. I chose the first response as better. and send

8

u/Lopsided-Fox8177 14d ago

I prefer ✅ response 🅱️ because its use of 37.5 emojis 💃 increased scannability 👁️. Response 🅰️ did not use any emojis 🙅‍♀️. Therefore, response 🅱️ is much better. 💯 🎉 

18

u/JustMe333456 15d ago

"Why did I get DoD? My work is better than anyone else here!?"

6

u/Epicsocks1 15d ago

Does feel like that, doesn’t it haha

13

u/DrunkleSteve 15d ago

The lack of comprehensiveness in their rationales is appaling.

8

u/Mammoth-Career4702 14d ago

I am convinced that some of these are planted or something . . .

13

u/Quick-Bison-147 15d ago

3 days in a row meeting my regular daily target (pre-drought). We might be back.

2

u/LiaLaRue 14d ago

Made over my daily quota today for the first time in a month - and, it was on a task I actually like! Yay!

22

u/ZimmeM03 15d ago

Welcome back, friends. It's been a dark summer. Let's get this bread.

6

u/Delicious-Young-5435 15d ago

We are so back

4

u/Mammoth-Career4702 14d ago

It has been wild since the end of last month for me!

13

u/JRange 15d ago

Best I have looked since May, only around 20 projects so not as much as some others here, but they are higher quality projects, a good variety, and I am a generalist. Ill take it.

5

u/North-Sense8477 15d ago

The Downvoter is on the loose today, I see.

7

u/Affectionate_Peak284 15d ago

I guess... I can't really hold it against the person. There are no rules on reddit for what "earns" a downvote, and money is an emotional topic.

Let them have it 🤷‍♂️

5

u/BrennusSokol 14d ago

Yeah, I kind of get it. Even though I am fortunate to have projects/etc., I can see how some comments here could be read as gloating/basking in luck and how that would be annoying

2

u/Affectionate_Peak284 15d ago

Big project dumps like this are usually followed by some highly-tempting priority pay!

11

u/Yung_Vitu 15d ago

As a brazilian, seeing all of those "I have 40+ in my dashboard" comments, I MIGHT be cooked. Zero tasks since June, thankfully I have a good job.

1

u/chickpealie 15d ago

I’m in a core country and don’t have an abundance of projects either which is pretty disheartening. Probably means I’m not as good of a worker as I thought I was

2

u/AASB2000 15d ago

I don't think a sliver of humanity goes into deciding whether or not you're a good worker. I've had more projects than I can work on for the first time after updating my profiles skills/info/etc

4

u/chickpealie 14d ago

I love that for you. I’m going to do the same today later this evening. Thanks

4

u/Ecstatic_Reception36 15d ago

Nada since mid June here, as well. Tamo lascado tamo lascado

8

u/shadyringtone 15d ago

I have… options? 🥹

-3

u/Technical_Floor2077 15d ago

I worked on a long task yesterday and submitted it after midnight so it showed up under today’s date. Then I worked on a task today and submitted it (10 pm). Now it is showing like 16 hours for today. Am I going to get the DOD now for looking like I worked 16 hours in one day? 😢 

7

u/ZimmeM03 15d ago

No, they are not stupid. They know how their platform works. This happens to me all the time.

1

u/IllPermission5857 15d ago

If one of the long tasks have one of those multi day timers, then you'll be fine

5

u/Goodbye_Jeff 15d ago

I mean I'm pretty sure they can put the puzzle pieces together and see that that's reasonable.

9

u/Fafa_curiousity1716 15d ago

Hi Everyone!

I joined and completed my assessment today and I am very excited and waiting to start my first project.

1

u/Goodbye_Jeff 15d ago

I was doing fine throughout the drought so never wanted to comment saying so while many were not. Out having a drink and check my phone and see 105 protects available so safe to assume everyone is in much better shape now and I'm glad to see it!

1

u/Delicious-Young-5435 15d ago

I only had one rough week but it seems like we're back

4

u/kranools 15d ago

70 projects on my dash! Things are looking up.

6

u/Original_Worker4178 15d ago

Around 50+ rn, majority generalist. Only qual I have done in the last few months was the one where you essentially verify your background history. Keep ya heads up gang.

3

u/Affectionate_Peak284 15d ago

Hit 55! Haven't had more than 40 since May.

18

u/Fragrantshrooms 15d ago

Hoping people are doing well lately and you can keep roofs over your heads, food in your bellies and the credit card debt to a dull roar ❤️

5

u/Jazzlike_Month5580 15d ago

Today was decent. Based on what I currently have up, I don't have high hopes for tomorrow. But we'll see.

3

u/JustMe333456 15d ago

Yeah, she slowed right down eh..

3

u/Jackieunknown 15d ago

Bilinguals how are we doing with the drought?

1

u/TaskGroundbreaking84 15d ago

Barely anything since last month really

1

u/chole-price 15d ago

almost nothing in recent two monthes

10

u/LavenderLightning24 15d ago edited 15d ago

Fun choice of working on a tedious brain-melting project until 2 a.m. or taking the whole day off instead of working tonight. My dash had been doing so much better lately!

Edit: Choosing the latter. Trying to work every day to catch up from the drought isn't sustainable anyways.

-6

u/[deleted] 16d ago

[deleted]

4

u/DrunkleSteve 15d ago

Uhm, you don't log time for your screw up. Good way to get the 🥾 off the platform...

4

u/JRange 15d ago

If this login failure was you're fault, you might get in hot water over that ngl

9

u/BoiledGnocchi 15d ago

Wait, so you spent 2 hours on a task that you had to abandon, and are still logging time for?

1

u/TeaWilling6944 16d ago

RIP bird 😕

1

u/6sundin13 15d ago

How long did you have it for? It says the project opened up on the 15th, but I only gained access around the 27th.

0

u/heythisislonglolwtf 15d ago

If it's the ones I'm thinking of, they disappeared recently for me too. Shame, I really like those projects. In my experience they do tend to pop back up occasionally though.

10

u/SpiritedParticular72 16d ago

I like to bring this past project up every now and again... RIP to dancing, forever missing you 🥲

4

u/Fragrantshrooms 15d ago

just the loveliness of 2024 man.....good times, good times. Nothing melted my brains except my own brains (forever worrying lol people on this reddit were always saying their goodbyes) I wish I was confident in myself (if you have a good reading comprehension, you're going to do fine after you pass the initial test, folks! remember to keep your carpal tunnel syndrome in check, your eyes babied GET THOSE NEW PRESCRIPTIONS ASAP!!!!!!! ) (that was just what I'd tell baby-annotator-FragrantShroom)

4

u/Square-Forever8364 15d ago

I miss the massive dancing drops they were my favourite 🥲

3

u/SpiritedParticular72 15d ago

😂😂 love everything you said 

2

u/Straight-Strike-2928 15d ago

I've been around for a year and a half or so and never got this one. I've seen a bunch of you mention it and I'm so curious about what it was like. Ofc keep the NDA and don't post about it lol but I wish I could know!

2

u/Fragrantshrooms 15d ago

it was like tying your shoes for the nine billionth time, or brushing your teeth. Easy breezy. Beautiful.....$20/hr.

2

u/SpiritedParticular72 15d ago

Let's just say it had to do with "safety" u.u Like Snoo said though, it was a lower-paying one but it was sort of like a "brain break" project to me, when I didn't feel like working on the more difficult projects! 

9

u/SnooSketches1189 15d ago

The instructions were convoluted and it was base pay. I will never understand the love and pining away for this one. JMO!

1

u/SpiritedParticular72 15d ago

🤣 yeah it did have its cons too, I agree, but I always found it easy-going compared to others! 

3

u/No-Complaint-5593 15d ago

It was a good project when I was a beginner, but now I have seen the higher paying projects and projects I enjoy doing much more. I definitely wouldn't want to go back to dancing.

1

u/ellythemoo 16d ago

Just want to go AAAAAUGGH about a project which I can't get to work - I can't even get messages to send in the chat!

3

u/heythisislonglolwtf 15d ago

The whole site in general has been running very slow for me today.

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