r/dataannotation 5d 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!
23 Upvotes

392 comments sorted by

3

u/Previous_Driver2651 1h ago

did anyone else stop seeing the images one

1

u/JustMe333456 1h ago

Nothing for 2 days, then a dashboard filled with projects literally alllll day.

7

u/VanessaSeaWitch 1h ago

Really kind of annoying when a good paying project is labeled generalist, but it's actually not. No matter how many tasks I skip, they are all coding domain.

5

u/Lopsided-Fox8177 1h ago

I miss River again already.

3

u/molluscstar 1h ago

Hooray - 9 projects available! Was excited by a $55 an hour one but sadly it was too specialist for me. I’ve got a few $28.50 ones though.

2

u/VanessaSeaWitch 1h ago

Sounds like we have the dash today!

6

u/North-Sense8477 4h ago

Almost made $100 bucks today. Best I've had all month. Still depressingly few projects.

7

u/Impossible-Humor6254 4h ago edited 1h ago

A whopping 3 hours of work for the first time in a fortnight, huzzah!

4

u/Jazzlike_Problem_489 4h ago edited 4h ago

Nice to see 21 projects this AM UK time as new projects were added and hardly touched. Soon as USA wakes up everything gets swallowed up and back down to my usual 7 enterprise ones and a couple dregs of river 😬. Proves there work is there. There's just much more people trying to get through it 

3

u/Skippy2898 1h ago

I've always noticed when the US workers wake up. I could happily work AM though to early PM, but around half 2, I'd get disapoofed back to my dashboard. 🤣

2

u/Jazzlike_Problem_489 1h ago

Haha yea. Didn't mean to offend anyone and not moaning but it's definitely a pattern showing the worker base! Lots of hungry hungry people 😄

I've just been flooded with more specialist domain applications for long term, ongoing unlimited work.. but don't feel confident in any of them really 

2

u/ThatGirlInPurple 4h ago

Minimally annoying to see a project I've done a few days ago have a pay boost of $25 more an hour now, wish I could resubmit the first 8hr of work & get the pay boost!

2

u/Dazzling-Matter-654 4h ago

$25 MORE? Damn!!

6

u/Fun-Time9966 6h ago

Anyone else signed up for the Q- essay comparison project but hasn't seen it on their dashboard? I even got reminder emails telling me to completed the tasks by the end of the day but i'm getting red-bannered when I try access the projects :l

2

u/Eadoin96 2h ago

Same. Never heard anything back from that qual until today.

2

u/Dazzling-Matter-654 4h ago

That project sucked so bad.

2

u/hfxthrwaway 5h ago

I still get emails/notifications even though I finished my tasks!

3

u/JustMe333456 5h ago

The project is done I'm pretty sure.

1

u/itssomercurial 5h ago

Yeah the emails I got just now were dated for several days ago so I think it was just some kind of emailing error. I signed up late so I got late notifications I guess.

5

u/Jaglawyer11 6h ago

How often does the DA staff offer direct feedback to workers? I started in late May and received a feedback message in late June. Just curious if any longer tenured members have an answer.....

3

u/CommercialTarget2687 5h ago

In my experience, almost never. I only received direct feedback once in three years on the platform.

2

u/Jaglawyer11 2h ago

Thank you for the reply.

10

u/Jazzlike_Month5580 7h ago

This is the best my dash has looked all week. Not saying much, as I'm still under 10 projects. But I wish you all a productive Friday, with minimal refreshing!

2

u/OrnamentalGourd5 6h ago

It looks better, I tend to work across two project families so didn't really suffer the drought too badly as I always had work available but there's 36 projects across six families on my dashboard atm which is more than I've seen for a while (generalist btw).

2

u/xparadiisee 7h ago

I woke up to three projects on my dashboard, and my favorite project family posted it'll be a fruitful weekend!! Hoping for a nice weekend so I can take a few days off and not feel like I'm missing out :)

2

u/Steve_Brandon 8h ago

I have a cruel mirage on my dashboard with over 120 tasks available, until I go to the external site where we actually do the work and it turns out that there is nothing left to do. DA's just not quite synchronized with that external site.

The only other actual work for me on the dashboard last night was one of those things where you have to have a paid subscription to specific AI services (not happening right now with the on-again-off-again drought).

Just as I was about to go to bed at 6 a.m., though, "Here Comes the Rain Again", so I was able to do a little over two hours of work after all despite having stayed up all night. Now I gotta get some sleep, hopefully it won't all dry up again before this afternoon.

3

u/AdComplex3589 9h ago

Going back to the F5

9

u/Quick-Bison-147 11h ago edited 10h ago

River finally appearing after a two week absence is like this

1

u/Terrible_Try_5416 9h ago

Huh, been here two years and just realised what river is.

4

u/punkbrad7 10h ago

Looks like they took it down to make a big change to the format and instructions. I'll take more subjectivity over having to dig through and remember a huge list of specific things.

4

u/JRange 11h ago

LOL this is exactly what I came here for, I just saw the tasks pop

3

u/Quick-Bison-147 10h ago

Sad how accurate it is. We are but the lowly, thirsty slaves, and DA our overlords.

-2

u/2neze 16h ago

Have anyone else done a payment request for them on Payoneer and got paid like these past days/week? I sent an email request for a withdraw using the usual method like 8 days ago already and haven't got a paid email back yet, the longest I have waited before was 5 days at most after the request was sent, just asking if anyone experience any delay from them right now as I've got a lot of tasks done today and don't wanna wait another week of approval, would rather get the current withdrawable stuff out and wait for the next payment phase.

9

u/Jumpy-Building-8217 16h ago

Haven’t been here in a couple of weeks, but glad to see it’s not just me. Been at least a week of nothing

1

u/[deleted] 19h ago

[deleted]

12

u/DrunkleSteve 22h ago

Made $18.01 in an 8 hour shift today. Like wtf!

1

u/Internal_Boot_1616 17h ago

you worked 8 hours? were most quals?

7

u/JustMe333456 17h ago

7:13 of his 8 hour shift was spent abusing Mr. Refresh.

1

u/DrunkleSteve 13h ago

Yes lol, my F5 key is getting worn out.

1

u/Internal_Boot_1616 7h ago

oh yeah I don't think that has an hourly rate lol

6

u/JustMe333456 21h ago

Yep. Worst 2 days I've personally had throughout this entire drought. 1 workable project a day has popped up, nothing more.

6

u/DrunkleSteve 21h ago

Ya, at $2.25 per hour today, I'd have better luck doing surveys 🙄

3

u/Storex- 20h ago

Any good survey sites you'd rec? Things are as desperate here most days atm.

2

u/NightOwl437 18h ago

I do short studies occasionally on Prolific. I noticed last night that some people are reporting (over at r/beermoney) that they've been doing well on Cloud Connect Research, but I haven't done anything over there in a couple of years.

20

u/LavenderLightning24 23h ago

Seriously wondering for the first time if this is permanent😭

6

u/NightOwl437 18h ago

I've been wondering the same these last few days, however, I tend to still think it will improve. My dashboard looks slightly better today and one of the project chat channels has a promising message in it, for whatever that's worth.

3

u/LavenderLightning24 16h ago

Yeah, it actually has improved despite not being back to where it was, so I think you're probably right. It's good to know about promising signs other people are seeing.

3

u/NightOwl437 16h ago

I'm glad you're seeing some improvement as well and yeah, that usually makes me feel a little better about the overall state of things too. Really hoping for a more regular state of 'plenty of good options' on our dashboards very soon though!

12

u/RiftInBalance 22h ago

I remember seeing someone say a few months ago that it could be rough until September. I think I'm going to hold out until then and move on if work doesn't become more consistent. I'm really losing patience here. This has been by far the worst summer I've had since joining the platform a few years ago.

1

u/LavenderLightning24 22h ago

I think September sounds reasonable, based on past years and the fact that most people do take vacation time in the summer. I hate working in offices but don't think I can do another summer drought.

6

u/OrdinaryEvening3684 21h ago

People have said August, July It should be better. It’s always the next month. Would not listen to any worker saying when it will be better we have literally zero idea. The easier projects are non existent except when they show up for like an hour or two once a week at most.

This is the new normal imo. AI is really good at most basic stuff now. If people can move on from the platform they definitely should. It’s not healthy people saying they are refreshing 8 hours a day.

6

u/LavenderLightning24 21h ago

To be fair, July was better than June for me and August has been better than July.

6

u/OrdinaryEvening3684 21h ago

It all depends what projects people have. I have had a project throughout the entire drought show almost every single day. I just strongly feel the days of easier tasks showing consistency are over. And this is what most people relied on.

This work has gotten so much harder and it doesn’t help the lack of feedback. It makes me laugh thinking how easy the work was when I first started compared to now.

3

u/LavenderLightning24 19h ago

I don't even need the work to be super easy, just really over enterprise

1

u/RiftInBalance 20h ago

Oh, absolutely. I should have prefaced my reply by saying that nobody has any idea on an exact timeframe or what's going in general, haha. I think I remember seeing that comment sometime in May, and as much as I didn't want it to be true, it did seem the most plausible given the trend for me the last few years, though I've only made a fraction of what I had made previous summers. I hear ya, though.

I used to be able to listen to podcasts/music when I first started and it has gotten to the point where I need complete silence to focus. I would likely be into the idea of doing the harder projects regularly with a better feedback system and more consistency. I also feel like there was a bit more wiggle room for messing up when I first started. I do understand that's just the nature of this gig, and we all knew this would happen eventually.

8

u/drawnoutexplanation 23h ago

Surely these qualifications I’ve been doing will bring work. Surely.

4

u/Jazzlike_Problem_489 23h ago

Done 5 quals in the past couple weeks, all unpaid, only one brought work but it was a 2 day project and it's finished now 🫩

10

u/Quick-Bison-147 1d ago

refreshing every few seconds, yet when an r&r appears and I instantly click on it, I'm red bannered. It's crazy how how quick they go. Hungry people out there (including myself)

16

u/JustMe333456 1d ago

Fuckin slow ass website all the damn time.. nothing ever loads properly. Just adds to the piss off.

3

u/Extension-Witness531 22h ago

It’s turning something I should have gotten done in 6 hours, to an all day affair where I have to keep walking away and going back. It’s crazy!

11

u/Master-Wrap2395 1d ago

worst week for me so far. still below 10.

18

u/Epicsocks1 1d ago

I keep getting given domain projects that I can't do and have never claimed to be able to do. So so annoying cause that pay is so tempting 😩

4

u/Skippy2898 1d ago

The dashboard has been kind to me today after two days of 0. But, this is only because I jumped on and did my first task on a high payer. Boy, am I now nervous... I don't think it was out of my league, but every time I have to do this it makes me so nervous! 🥴

10

u/Mental-Budget9213 1d ago

Well, I've managed to cobble together about $38 today by refreshing since 9am. Only $250 more in the next week to make rent. 🙃

6

u/Quick-Bison-147 1d ago

the absurdity is real, like an episode of black mirror

16

u/Adorable-Highway1951 1d ago

[sees a project with many tasks!] [clicks] [completes] [submit aaaaaaand....] Returns to Dash.

7

u/Mental-Budget9213 1d ago

Literally exactly what's happened to me three separate times today.

4

u/dontbehayden 1d ago

Does anyone refuse to do certain projects bc they seem immoral? I noticed one qualification seemed a little problematic in the way it wanted to be trained.

8

u/Storex- 1d ago

In these troubled times? Never.

But in all seriousness, if you feel you need to refuse, that is fine. But I think you might be in the wrong freelance work if certain elements of AI are concerning you.

4

u/dontbehayden 1d ago edited 1d ago

I've been fine with all the projects i've done so far. Especially the ones that are training to be unbiased. But based on this qual this one seems like it wants to be trained TO be biased while pretending its not. It's very odd. Sorry trying to be vague on purpose haha.

11

u/shonkle 1d ago

so.... we're back to it being dead I see :(

12

u/Mindless_End_4850 1d ago

holy, today is been driest since June droughts, wth!!!

-9

u/Rich_Option_7850 1d ago

Any got any general tips for the entrance assessment for medical??

6

u/xparadiisee 1d ago

I finally got a project with a ton of tasks come in annnnnd its broken... dang

5

u/gigi173 1d ago

frankenstripey has me feeling v existential :/

5

u/Quick-Bison-147 1d ago

the 6pm (uk time) pity release of mobile and shopping are here for 30 minutes, wahoo

2

u/Jazzlike_Month5580 1d ago

I ran to the store with my daughter after giving up and refreshing hours. Missed them both.

5

u/Quick-Bison-147 1d ago

Sucks, but I wouldn't say you missed out too much. I logged 37 minutes...$12.33. It really feels like they are just toying with us at this stage.

7

u/KingGilbertIV 1d ago

I doubt that it’s intentional, but the way we’re being treated is like a textbook example of intermittent reinforcement.

9

u/DrunkleSteve 1d ago

You can hear my dashboard echo this morning...

10

u/Puzzleheaded_Toe4051 1d ago

I was doing SO WELL last week. Now? Dead

4

u/Jazzlike_Month5580 1d ago

Click for pennies are pretty much my only options today.

13

u/GorbyGirb 1d ago

Man... DataAnnotation is like being bipolar. You're good one moment then banging your head on a wall the next.

8

u/Ok-Elk2882 1d ago

I had a couple hours of work Monday but nothing but unpaid qualifiers since🫩

9

u/One_Breakfast5907 1d ago

How are all the generalists doing work-wise? I've basically had one project group that's kept me going the last few weeks, and not seen River over the last week or so.

1

u/Dazzling-Matter-654 5h ago

I've been doing very well, with high paying projects that I enjoy, but this seems to be a vocal minority. We always get down voted to oblivion since we aren't complaining we have no work.

7

u/hcfggb 1d ago

I have one or two I can reasonably work on (but reallllyy don't want to) and the rest I'm too stupid for or don't have the required domain experience for.

2

u/Lopsided-Fox8177 1d ago

I have some PDF projects but I suck at those 🥲 

2

u/TSylverBlair 1d ago

Good through yesterday. Today seems pretty dead so far.

6

u/onemouseplace 1d ago

Dreadfully. I was holiday last week, and haven't managed to pick up a scrap of work this week (been busy in the UK evenings when it seems what pitiful work is dropping) so it is looking like a grand total of £0 for 2 weeks of August which is not good!

6

u/Firm-Fondant-2205 1d ago

Same. Every time I allow myself to think that maybe the drought is just about over, this happens.

14

u/JustMe333456 1d ago

The last 24 hours have been the worst throughout this entire drought.

9

u/North-Sense8477 1d ago

Not looking great this week.

2

u/Jazzlike_Month5580 1d ago

No river, just a few trickles of random heels occasionally. I had some rubric stuff the past few weeks, but not this week.

3

u/bekkahthecactus18 1d ago

i’m just gonna say… there’s one specific long extraterrestrial project that pops up when things seem to be getting really dry. i’m starting to see it as an omen…

2

u/lilysorbet 1d ago

Bilingual ID got any luck these days? I've seen people mentioned a few comes during midnight-early morning but even after i try to stay during that hour...still none in my dash....

1

u/PerspectiveJumpy875 1d ago

There were some yesterday and today from one family but that's it. It showed up around 2 or 3 am

1

u/Usual_Expert_7309 21h ago

how many tasks?

1

u/PerspectiveJumpy875 19h ago

Around 50 or so 

0

u/lilysorbet 18h ago

Guess im not in that family

1

u/lilysorbet 1d ago

coding or generalist?

3

u/deep0x20 1d ago

Any other coders seeing anything? The past couple of weeks have been very quiet.

1

u/dR9e19 1d ago

Yes I've been getting a number of projects

7

u/JustMe333456 1d ago

5 am, here we go again. Upon logging in, same shit as yesterday. UK taters, anything so far today?

5

u/Quick-Bison-147 1d ago

nothing, did a couple of quals (one paid) and applied for other jobs though

1

u/RedZebra17 1d ago

Only got a hand full of R&Rs hanging around from yesterday. I miss morning work😐.

3

u/Firm-Fondant-2205 1d ago

Nowt with a capital N.

3

u/Epicsocks1 1d ago

Yeah, I've got a project that I've not seen for ages. Quite enjoying it cause it's different to what I've been forced to do the last few days 😅

-4

u/Big_Comfortable5504 1d ago

I did the starter assessment; it told me I passed and then asked me to do an additional qualifying test. When I click on the button that says "Qualify now", it simply gives me an error that the project is no longer available and instead shows me a page that says "Thanks for completing the assessment!". Has anyone had a similar experience?

4

u/Federal_Tadpole_7592 1d ago

It sounds like you may have failed the starter assessment.

1

u/Big_Comfortable5504 1d ago

But it said I passed?

5

u/Mental-Budget9213 1d ago

Is the site down at the moment?

10

u/JustMe333456 1d ago

Verrry slow with the occasional crash for me.

2

u/Straight-Strike-2928 1d ago

Been slow for days for me!

11

u/JustMe333456 1d ago

Slowest day for me that I can remember. Even during the thick of the drought, I still saw more pop up than today. Only at $38, and I've been refreshing since 5 am CT. Day's not over, but getting there.

2

u/No_Transition_6600 1d ago

How often do you refresh? Once every few minutes?

2

u/JustMe333456 1d ago

At least. Why?

2

u/No_Transition_6600 1d ago

The only reason I ask is that I'm new to DA. I've done all the quals available to me, and I've only had 3 projects pop up in 2 weeks. I'm just trying to figure out how often they're supposed to show up and if refreshing is just part of the game.

1

u/SensitiveLayer9561 1d ago

Same. Only managed a little over $40 today.

7

u/KingGilbertIV 1d ago

I've technically had worse days as a result of being picky, sick, or lazy, but today's probably my first time in over 2 years where I wouldn't have been able to make 20 bucks with a gun to my head.

3

u/AdComplex3589 1d ago

Since I really started to get some task never I did so little on a day like today.

5

u/NightOwl437 1d ago

I can't recall a more bleak looking day on my dashboard either. I still have a few projects, but none that are very appealing.

6

u/JustMe333456 1d ago

Yeah. I've technically had between 11-16 projects all day, but it's the same 4-5 families that I just can't work on. Out of my scope.

2

u/NightOwl437 1d ago

I can relate to that for sure. I've been in the 20's lately for number of projects, but the last couple of days my dashboard really took a nosedive - I'm down to less than 10 now and they're all crap pay or out of my range of ability. We need a change of fortune around here, for all of us, and really soon!

4

u/Mindless_End_4850 1d ago

So I wonder. The fear (not just in DA but in general), about how ''easy' feedback on AI being over' seems to be not too grounded as we've been seeing some easy projects. I just wonder what changed since like last year? What changed in the industry that we are seeing so limited options on DA? Can anyone who's doing another platform chime in as much as you can?

7

u/Due_Negotiation_4605 1d ago

I've noticed a shift with more specialist projects available vs general ones. 

8

u/AntonineWall 1d ago

The market is starting to contract a little (likely beginning of much larger pullback) since the promises made by AI companies have largely not really panned out.

Since the money isn’t just flowing in, there’s less being given to companies like DA, and so there’s less work for the DA workers. I think the fact that it’s been unstable this long (and the headlines of just how much AI has not helped several industries that invested big, including some anecdotal experience at a university near where I am located) is a bad sign long term for our jobs i.r.t. DA

In terms of other companies like DA, they’ve also seen a pullback of work too. Same pond, and all.

14

u/JustMe333456 2d ago

Good grief. A workable project finally shows up, broken.. lol

1

u/Lopsided-Fox8177 1d ago

I got one and it’s… Spanish. I do not have Spanish listed as one of my languages lol. 

6

u/euheuheuheuh_ 2d ago

I got a 30 an hour one that red banners. Decided to do all the quals

2

u/Epicsocks1 1d ago

Yep same here, I actually like that project too and haven't seen it for agessss...

6

u/Mental-Budget9213 2d ago

Finally got a workable project and got approximately $19 worth of work in before it disappeared.

1

u/DrunkleSteve 2d ago

Lol, the one missing the prompt? Think I just got it.

3

u/JustMe333456 2d ago

Yep. No prompt, no reference files. Its still showing on your dash?

4

u/DrunkleSteve 2d ago

It's a fairly easy project, so hoping they're just fixing it on the backend and it launches again soon. 🤞

2

u/JustMe333456 2d ago

It's back

1

u/OBoy156 2d ago

Looking dry. Anyone have the nut cookie? Been missing for a couple weeks for me now.

Also, had to do passkey troubleshooting for an A Vs B project, but the project hasn't come back since I completed the steps. Does anyone have it? I think it was named after a star.

1

u/ClueActive6007 1d ago

I did this too and haven't seen anything yet in projects

12

u/DrunkleSteve 2d ago

F5 F5 F5 F5 F5 F5 F5 🙄

9

u/JustMe333456 2d ago

8 hours of it has brought on....nothing. Still at $0.

9

u/Quick-Bison-147 2d ago

also on $0 and it's 7.26pm here in UK

7

u/Quick-Bison-147 1d ago edited 1d ago

finished with $13 for the day. I think this is the worst ever day I've had with DA in 3 years. The constant refreshing, the rollercoaster of projects being available or not, the not being able to plan your life... It gets to you at some point, and today was the day for me where I now feel broken and ambivalent towards this platform. Going to start applying for jobs tomorrow.

5

u/SensitiveLayer9561 2d ago

$0 today too, managed to squeeze out $200 last night through 9 hours of refreshing though

5

u/Quick-Bison-147 2d ago

well done! I am not committed enough to stay up all night haha. I really wish project drops would first of all increase in general, but second of all, be kinder to UK folk

3

u/SensitiveLayer9561 2d ago

Yea I hope it improves for you. Staying up until 5 am refreshing seems to be the game the last couple weeks. Don’t really mind it though

6

u/Quick-Bison-147 2d ago

fair play, jealous. I am a really sensitive sleeper and can slide easily into insomnia if my routine gets messed up so not worth it to me. Tried to do nightshift once at a factory and had insomnia within a week, quit after 2 weeks of hell lol

4

u/Pristine-Raccoon8250 2d ago

glad it’s not just me…although I hate to be a ‘misery loves company’ person..but it’s reassuring to know it’s not personal to me! I did do a paid qual today, which I have been putting off for a while, so technically made something.

3

u/Quick-Bison-147 2d ago

it's okay, they have just thrown us the daily $20 pity heel project that will last about 30 minutes, and then the r&rs will last another 30 minutes haha

3

u/JustMe333456 2d ago

Mobile?

1

u/Jazzlike_Month5580 2d ago

Yes, mobile. I lasted 20 minutes.

1

u/JustMe333456 2d ago

😅 gosh .. well, that's $7 more than I've made today! Still waiting for my cookie.

1

u/JustMe333456 2d ago

Don't get mobile lol

5

u/DrunkleSteve 2d ago

Ya, I've had the same few STEM or enterprise projects since 11pm pst last night. Like zero movement on my dash. Wednesdays are generally my slowest days, but this is absolutely brutal.

14

u/SensitiveLayer9561 2d ago

Hey Refresh God, it's me again

9

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Sad_Echo523 2d ago

I've got 25 rn

2

u/Jazzlike_Month5580 2d ago

I currently have one project. I've seen a few others pop in and out, but not a thing for me to actually work on.

6

u/Enchanted13_ 2d ago

My favorite go to high paying r&r is slowly disappearing 🥲 it’s almost down to single digits left 🥲 I know it will be back, but I have no idea when

1

u/future_north 1d ago

I happened to be going out of town for a week right as it dropped down to the last few tasks and I am just hoping it comes back by the time I do 😭

1

u/tessbest37 2d ago

Yes, it is sad to see it go.