One general concern that this report raises is that an unaccountable company can suddenly cut off a person from working for many companies, as well as from the reputation the person built (in the metrics of the company).
Active freelancer banned on Upwork after video verification process
11–20 of 32 posts
Re: Active freelancer banned on Upwork after video verification process
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well I was never warned over 3 years. I never accepted payment away from Upwork, i maybe couple of times got off site communication on client request, but nobody gave me infraction for that. I think that should come before the ban. I figure there is two possible reasons they banned me. Facial recognition software decided that my profile pic (when I was younger and clean shaven) is not sufficiently similar to my pic t…
Maybe clients you turned down gave you 1 stars or what ever. Do you think it was chat bots? These automated fraud detection system are a nightmare. I did some jobs at elance as a student. You could feel how the platform was on the side of the work buyers. I stopped trying making money there after a dispute with a SEO dude over payment for some text where he wanted me to do another one before I got payed ... luckely t…
They can't give me one star if I did not start contract with them. I need to accept contract to be able to affect JSS
Re: Active freelancer banned on Upwork after video verification process
#13Two thoughts: 1. Ofalyn really wanted to hurry you off the chat. Seems pretty unprofessional. 2. It's a little painful to see some of those job postings. "Virtual staff needed for long term employment -- $65". Yikes. The gig economy.
That is my first gig for VOIP company for 5$ a day that I described at the start. Just to show how I had to start. And after all that climbing, they do this.
Re: Active freelancer banned on Upwork after video verification process
#14Is there a problem with this HN post, that would remove it from view? (While I was typing a comment, the HN title changed twice, and then I couldn't find the post anywhere within the first several front pages of HN (searching each page for "upwork" and "medium"), despite the post having 42 points in 58 minutes. The post is still findable on the second page of "new" at the moment, but seems stuck at 42 points from about 7:00..7:15 US Eastern so far, so might end up not being seen by most US HNers.)
Re: Active freelancer banned on Upwork after video verification process
#15I also tried doing UpWork in my spare time, I had a few gigs with good reviews and made ~$300 over about a month. I only took on jobs that I enjoyed so it wasn't like I was trying to live off it. They also sent me a similar email and requested a video call to verify my identity. They quized me with some programming questions. I found it very impersonal and insulting honestly. I did not get banned but I stopped using…
I got that call in 2016. I passed that. This was maybe second or third time they have a call with me, and this one was the shortest. Maybe 3 minutes top.
Re: Active freelancer banned on Upwork after video verification process
#16Two thoughts: 1. Ofalyn really wanted to hurry you off the chat. Seems pretty unprofessional. 2. It's a little painful to see some of those job postings. "Virtual staff needed for long term employment -- $65". Yikes. The gig economy.
That is my first gig for VOIP company for 5$ a day that I described at the start. Just to show how I had to start. And after all that climbing, they do this.
Still, the idea that a even a "starter" freelance DevOps job could ever be $5/day, especially for a "long term" gig, is kind of depressing. It's way, way less than US minimum wage.
Re: Active freelancer banned on Upwork after video verification process
#17Is there a problem with this HN post, that would remove it from view? (While I was typing a comment, the HN title changed twice, and then I couldn't find the post anywhere within the first several front pages of HN (searching each page for "upwork" and "medium"), despite the post having 42 points in 58 minutes. The post is still findable on the second page of "new" at the moment, but seems stuck at 42 points from abo…
Probably flagged (due to the original clickbait title), which penalizes a post pretty drastically in the HN ranking algorithm.
Re: Active freelancer banned on Upwork after video verification process
#18Is there a problem with this HN post, that would remove it from view? (While I was typing a comment, the HN title changed twice, and then I couldn't find the post anywhere within the first several front pages of HN (searching each page for "upwork" and "medium"), despite the post having 42 points in 58 minutes. The post is still findable on the second page of "new" at the moment, but seems stuck at 42 points from abo…
Probably flagged (due to the original clickbait title), which penalizes a post pretty drastically in the HN ranking algorithm.
The first title I saw did sound a bit clickbaity, and it looked like someone later rewrote the title, and then tweaked the rewrite (changed "user" to "freelancer").
If the penalty for sounding clickbaity in the submitted title is that the post then won't be seen, that sounds plausibly appropriate, in the context of widespread poor media practices we're trying to improve.
In this particular instance, such strict measures might be unfortunate, if the writer is raising a general industry situation, in which many of us might be involved without knowing it, and which situation should be improved.
Would the writer be permitted to resubmit the post?
Re: Active freelancer banned on Upwork after video verification process
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Probably flagged (due to the original clickbait title), which penalizes a post pretty drastically in the HN ranking algorithm.
The first title I saw did sound a bit clickbaity, and it looked like someone later rewrote the title, and then tweaked the rewrite (changed "user" to "freelancer"). If the penalty for sounding clickbaity in the submitted title is that the post then won't be seen, that sounds plausibly appropriate, in the context of widespread poor media practices we're trying to improve. In this particular instance, such strict measu…
You should email that question to the admins using the Contact link in the footer, since they can answer it authoritatively.
Re: Active freelancer banned on Upwork after video verification process
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well I was never warned over 3 years. I never accepted payment away from Upwork, i maybe couple of times got off site communication on client request, but nobody gave me infraction for that. I think that should come before the ban. I figure there is two possible reasons they banned me. Facial recognition software decided that my profile pic (when I was younger and clean shaven) is not sufficiently similar to my pic t…
Or maybe this is a big misunderstanding, and your blog post title is clickbait.
I see nothing wrong with that.
The man's livelihood was destroyed, without a provided justification or an apparent means of appeal. The "court of public opinion" is basically his only shot to get it back, and that requires views. Clickbait gets views.