Upwork is Changing Again and What We Can Do About It
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Re: Upwork is Changing Again and What We Can Do About It
#2Network effects make this effort a bit quixotic, just like diaspora and ello, with respect to consumer faxing networks. But hopefully they'll give it a go, and maybe surprise this cynic.
Re: Upwork is Changing Again and What We Can Do About It
#3Lets hope this is a race to the bottom for freelancing websites, rather than freelancers! Its also reminiscent of the opposition to Uber by London cab drivers: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/05/london-bl...
Re: Upwork is Changing Again and What We Can Do About It
#4Why is a central authority controlling the market again ? What we need is interfaces for the customer and workers that can be matched together by a broker. It's probably quite hard to find the right interface but it would then benefit everyone.
Here is a simpler example for a Uber-like implementation:
* Taxis would be advertising their current position and whenever they they are free or not with their phone.
* Potential customers would advertise their current location and where they want to go with their phone.
* Broker services would match taxis with customers
Obviously it's more complicated than that, there could be a reputation service associated to an account for example and your own algorithm running on your phone that chooses the combination of trust and pricing that you want.
Re: Upwork is Changing Again and What We Can Do About It
#5The new pricing structure halves my Upwork fee for most of the jobs I do. I had no time to comment on the complaints page though.
Re: Upwork is Changing Again and What We Can Do About It
#6Lets hope this is a race to the bottom for freelancing websites, rather than freelancers! Its also reminiscent of the opposition to Uber by London cab drivers: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/05/london-bl...
Thanks for sharing the article. I do hope it turns into a race to the bottom for freelancing websites and a race toward overall improvement and fairness.
Re: Upwork is Changing Again and What We Can Do About It
#7The new pricing structure halves my Upwork fee for most of the jobs I do. I had no time to comment on the complaints page though.
It's insane and inhumane for many freelancers. Many comments in the forum got deleted (as mentioned in the article). Freelancers see it happen all the time.
Re: Upwork is Changing Again and What We Can Do About It
#8Network effects make this effort a bit quixotic, just like diaspora and ello, with respect to consumer faxing networks. But hopefully they'll give it a go, and maybe surprise this cynic.
With community support and the right people to create and maintain it, it's definitely possible.
Re: Upwork is Changing Again and What We Can Do About It
#9Why is a central authority controlling the market again ? What we need is interfaces for the customer and workers that can be matched together by a broker. It's probably quite hard to find the right interface but it would then benefit everyone. Here is a simpler example for a Uber-like implementation: * Taxis would be advertising their current position and whenever they they are free or not with their phone. * Potent…
It is using its size to control its market. We need regulation and protection for freelancers and a new breed of purposeful platforms that would serve as Upwork alternatives.
Re: Upwork is Changing Again and What We Can Do About It
#10There is not necessarily a need for 100% community effort.
What is needed a simple, decent service, with reasonable rates ( from 1% to 3% from a transaction ) and keeps up with the requests. Such a service could be run by a max 5 person company and I believe everyone could profit.
I worked with Upwork and I liked the concept, but the implementation was a bit to complicated. With this changes, I really hope new such services will come up and fill this decency "void". The strategy of Upwork eludes me, since their strenght lies in the participants and alienating them is the last thing you want to do.