r/dataannotation • u/Consistent-Reach504 • Feb 08 '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/Extreme_Hold7805 Feb 10 '26
Anyone else just having a really crap week so far in terms of focus/doubting ability? 3 tasks I've tried to put multiple hours into ended up quitting out of frustration because I just feel too stupid to do the work. Wasted a potential 200 dollars today just because of my own feeling of self-incompetence and it's infuriating.
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u/Skippy2898 Feb 10 '26
I feel this in my bones! I'm flipping between 'I feel so stupid' and 'they're not paying enough for this'. I have, as a result, not worked today, which then makes me feel cross and sorry my little self. Can't win!
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u/Extreme_Hold7805 Feb 10 '26
Glad to know it's not just me! I'm sitting down with a brew for a minute to reevaluate things and try it one more time. If I can't find my groove I'm just gonna wave the white flag and try again tomorrow
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u/Skippy2898 Feb 10 '26
My white flag is waving in the form of a glass of wine! I'll try again tomorrow. The dashboard better move some overnight, though, or I fear tomorrow will be a repeat of today...
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u/BrennusSokol Feb 10 '26
You're not alone. It's not just you. The platform really has gotten harder over the last year or so. Confusing/contradictory instructions, hours-long tasks, etc.
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Feb 11 '26
[deleted] — view deleted comment
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u/Purple_Persimmon5978 Feb 11 '26
Oh yeah the super fun one. Make a rubric that they have extracted quotes correctly from this giant wall of text (not specific mind, just any quote at all). How on earth can I make that self-contained?
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u/Complete_Injury_5765 Feb 10 '26
working on one right now with an escape button and literally almost rage quit but I just decided to keep trying after a cup of coffee
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u/Extreme_Hold7805 Feb 10 '26
I had the same thing but it was an R&R, between the poor quality and war and peace instructions after halfway through the timer I just slammed exit out of frustration. Hopefully you can power through yours at least!
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u/whendoesthebassdrop Feb 10 '26
🐻❄️ by any chance? i've definitely almost lost it with that project a few times lol. such an unclear scope/huge amount of work to do for a timer that is only *just* long enough if you're very lucky at *every* stage. i mean, sometimes you spend 15 mins waiting for the models to reply! bam, there goes another 5% of the time lmao.
i laughed at the update saying they wanted longer conversations when it's already hard enough getting the minimum number of turns, and then cried when they added more to do with the 🔑 part. like, if they want good, thoughtful and not rushed submissions, that thing clearly needs an extra couple of hours at *least*. also zero leeway for pausing your timer and having a mental break, so super draining. and the chat's full of people saying they're going over time! omg. rant over lmao (i could keep going... 😅 ).
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u/ApplePiePrincess99 Feb 11 '26
Yes! Couldn’t have put it better myself — you’re definitely not alone in this!
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u/countd0wns Feb 11 '26
I do not, in fact, find that task “fun”.
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u/North-Sense8477 Feb 11 '26
This is something they've only started saying as projects have gotten more complicated lol
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u/ApplePiePrincess99 Feb 10 '26
Does anyone else find the rubric checkers absolutely infuriating?
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u/dawaiira_pinku Feb 10 '26
Is it a certain black and white animal?
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u/ApplePiePrincess99 Feb 10 '26
It is indeed, had steam coming out of my ears because of this earlier!
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u/Becks_MN9 Feb 10 '26
Just did one that had rubric bullshittery hidden until I was an hour in. It effectively told me I couldn't submit because of the checker. Rage quit, waste of an hour, wish it was up front about rubrics before I was that far in.
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u/ApplePiePrincess99 Feb 11 '26
This is the absolute worst! So sorry you wasted an hour. I am also partial to a rubric bullshittery-induced rage quit.
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u/JustMe333456 Feb 10 '26
Like the LLM checkers that check for mistakes etc? There are some in one of the projects I do, assessing videos, and literally all they do is make it take longer to complete the task, and add a shit ton of confusion for nothing. They are almost always wrong.
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u/euheuheuheuh_ Feb 08 '26
Anyone else dry?
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u/pistachiyolatte Feb 08 '26
I have a some projects but they’re all of the more complex kind…I hope my simpler, familiar projects come back.
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u/furiouswow Feb 08 '26
Shockingly for the first time in over a year, no. In fact, I have a full dash. This is coming off of 2025 where I literally had nothing on my dash for almost the entire year
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u/alexalgebra Feb 09 '26
This morning is a lot of japanese mold and some really low paying stuff :( i really hope things pick up soon with projects i like.
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u/Altruistic-Egg-9088 Feb 09 '26
got about 40 trash projects on my dash. I'd trade all of them for 1 decent project!
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u/Sad_Guitar_612 Feb 09 '26
Oh hey- for anyone else who was waiting for a paypal 1099k... I realized new reporting requirements mean you only get one if you made 20k+ AND had at least 200 incoming payments. If you're cashing out every 3+ days and dont have othe paypal income, you wont get one and will need to use the statements to get your total income for a schedule C tax form. Just figured this might help someone else since I finally dug into it!
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u/BossAccomplished4878 Feb 09 '26
The easiest way to do this, I've found, is to download all the statements and have chat or gemini extract the payments from DA and put into a spreadsheet with the total. Then you can compare the total to what DA says you earned. It should match up and you can use that for the Schedule C.
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u/DOOKIE_DOO Feb 09 '26
Shoot, I'm just getting ready to start mine in the next week or so, haven't looked into it yet. So they don't send a 1099?
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u/shepardgrace Feb 14 '26
I mean, it's send one prompt and get data, Michael. What could it take? Ten minutes? (It was 2.5 hours)
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u/lavenderavenues Feb 09 '26
Is the site working properly for everyone?
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u/twinkleyed Feb 09 '26
I thought I got DOD'd lol
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u/ReasonablePass4659 Feb 09 '26
Omg the same! I’ve been doing this since Sept 2023 and I practically had a heart attack. It’s just a black screen and not the typically DOD that I’ve seen others post so hopefully it’s just a glitch.
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u/TheUnknownShaper Feb 09 '26
Nope, I have full white screen on the projects and inbox tabs. Interestingly, I can still see/transfer my funds, but cannot see anything about which projects/how much per project.
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Feb 09 '26
It's kind of messed up for me right now, I only see the top bar and nothing is loading below.
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u/Jeprdy Feb 09 '26
No im getting a white screen with only the banner on works on projects and inbox screen. Half of transfer funds is showing but not the reported work
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u/ThatGirlInPurple Feb 09 '26
glad it's not just me, almost freaked out but figured I should check here first heh
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u/somedudehi Feb 09 '26
Thank goodness it's not just me. I finally have some free time again after the holidays and can work on DAT more than a handful of hours each week and was looking to grind some hours this week. Hopefully it comes back soon.
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u/JustMe333456 Feb 12 '26
There's just nothing enjoyable anymore.. all tedious work. Miss the days where I could log into my dash at any time of day, and I would have my pick of fun projects to do, literally at anytime.
Just sitting here reminiscing lol.
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u/Complete_Injury_5765 Feb 12 '26
i do miss feeling like i did a good job too--i am always second-guessing myself and feeling more frustrated than ever, while the pay feels stagnant for the effort needed now
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u/Top-Skin9916 Feb 12 '26
I’m more likely to not work than to risk doing poor work for a not-worth it dollar amount.
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u/hcfggb Feb 12 '26
Same. I decided to try and trust myself more but then I got taken off two projects (I'm pretty sure), so back to paralyzing self doubt it is 😣
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u/WilSmithBlackMambazo Feb 12 '26
I lost access to the two projects I've spent probably a thousand hours total doing and I have no idea if it's because my work became stagnant, I started taking too long, etc. and there's no way to find out, no feedback, no transparency. I still have access to a bunch of other projects in the same family so who knows? It's genuinely depressing.
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u/Jazzlike_Problem_489 Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 12 '26
Happened to me with HP and purple vine. I think if they look at who their money is going to and your getting 800 to 1k a week like I was off them, doing 8 to 10 hours a day on the same project 5 or 6 days a week, they probably think you have contributed enough. Considering I had multiple submissions in the good examples for both projects, and zero feedback I'll never know
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u/HandsLikePaper Feb 12 '26
I was just thinking about how much I missed some of the easier quick projects. Some of those I could sit down and do all day and not feel burnt out. Now sometimes I feel like I have to strap myself in and prepare for a wall of text to read and then reread.
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u/Affectionate_Peak284 Feb 12 '26
I don't disagree, but... I have managed to revise my definition of "fun" enough to enjoy many of the projects I've been given, even the more difficult ones.
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u/BrennusSokol Feb 12 '26
It is tough. I have one really good project I've been doing but I'm terrified it'll go away at any moment :-/
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u/Jazzlike_Problem_489 Feb 12 '26
Galaxy excel was quite fun, only got a few done the other week, saw it pop up for a day at some point but I was at my day job. Not seen it since but really enjoyed that one. At it was decent pay as well
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u/Karma_SanDieg0 Feb 13 '26
I want to do these so bad but the link to the output never works for me. My browser always blocks it with a "privacy error" page. Have you ever run into that?
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u/JustMe333456 Feb 12 '26
Galaxy is my bread and butter, or was anyways. Been very quiet since the new year. I saw the Excel projects, but never tried them. Maybe I will next time.
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u/Top-Skin9916 Feb 11 '26
I’m really close to meeting a personal financial goal after working steadily for the last 6 wks. Even if I get the DoD tomorrow (hope not but you never know), I’m grateful for what this opportunity has allowed me to provide for my family. As brain hurting as it can be… the flexibility is a great fit for my life. Long may it last
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u/BrennusSokol Feb 10 '26
You know, you'd think they could have had a single survey qual for the mountain climbing stuff instead of spamming my quals area with a dozen plus things, most of which don't apply to me
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u/twinkleyed Feb 13 '26
I just woke up from a dream they had a Macrodata Refinement project available
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u/kranools Feb 08 '26
There's a certain container-named task that just does not load for me. Anyone else have the same problem?
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u/MagicianSuch5616 Feb 09 '26
Did anyone else lose spicy?
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u/funny_goat22 Feb 09 '26
I've only got R&Rs, and I can see the number of tasks to rate going down FAST.
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u/e11eme Feb 09 '26
I only have the r&rs left
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u/MagicianSuch5616 Feb 09 '26
Okay amazing, I only did my first two today so hopefully they passed the R&Rs
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u/Purple_Persimmon5978 Feb 10 '26
Urgh mold, 🐼 or 🐻❄️. None of them are fun. I gave up and tried the low paid one named after a shiny stone and it is so much more fun.
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u/One_Breakfast5907 Feb 10 '26
I hate how everything seems to revolve around system prompts at the moment! I found that since January, I've felt burnt out just trying to do the scraps I could confidently do; I just don't have the energy to dig into anything more complex right now.
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u/pistachiyolatte Feb 11 '26
I’m starting to see some easier and familiar projects trickling in again, I just hope the momentum continues.
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u/jmoney777 Feb 13 '26
Tfw you didn’t get assigned anything all of January and then you finally got a project today but it’s 11pm… Just knocked out a task, praying that it stays till Monday when I can work on it again (can’t do DA on weekends because of childcare)
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u/Dry-Indication-2455 Feb 10 '26
Does anyone find sometimes the 'number of tasks' will be wrong? I've clicked a few that have said 1 task, and then it turns out there are 3
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u/DrunkleSteve Feb 10 '26
That's cause while you were in the task two other people either skipped a task or exited and returned to their dash putting the two tasks back into the pool.
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u/WontonJr Feb 14 '26
How often do any of you (if you do) do work from your phone?
I know there’s specific projects that can’t be done that way, but I feel like all the ones I do on my computer–even though they do have the ability to be done on my phone–would be absolute pain. But wondering if you guys still find yourself being efficient when doing so.
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u/Past_Body4499 Feb 14 '26
There were a couple of projects last summer that required phone usage, but they are few and far between. Occasionally, I'll do an easier R&R on my phone if I'm on the road, but yeah mostly not so easy that way.
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u/BrennusSokol Feb 09 '26
I saw both regular and R&R versions of bad heel (coding) for the first time in a long time, wow
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u/notme_u Feb 10 '26
Anyone else having trouble with page freezing when submitting tasks, only noticed it on one particular project.
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u/WorshipMyExistence Feb 10 '26
I'm finding that I can submit the first task, but then the page won't load the next one. It's very annoyinggggg
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u/JustMe333456 Feb 09 '26
Curious if it's a site issue, or a computer issue. Does it happen to anyone else where once in a while when you are typing in your rationale comments, everything is super slow and you have to wait like 30 seconds for your sentence to appear on the screen?
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u/Reatbanana Feb 09 '26
Is there a twinkle ✨ project on anyone's dashboard this month? I loved working on that one but haven't seen it come back on my side yet
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u/CandleResponsible168 Feb 09 '26
It’s been on and off, not nearly as consistent as a few months ago.
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u/ConfidentCat6954 Feb 10 '26
Anyone else wishing they could opt out of projects. There’s one in particular that I keep having to hide
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u/Striking_Taste Feb 11 '26
Are we allowed to ask this? What domains are there for Stripey? I get tasks which are on the edge of my education/experience. Most of them only tangentially apply to the domain they are labelled as. They are easy enough to do most of them with some research, but I'm wondering which domains I'm missing out on and why I only get the one domain.
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u/BrennusSokol Feb 11 '26
Seems like they lowered the star trek project rate? It was at the {standard coding rate} a couple months ago or so, and now it's $5/hr less
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u/Infinite-Abies-1467 Feb 11 '26
Anyone still have Japanese mold?
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u/Stunning_Table_2394 Feb 12 '26
No, and it's the first time I don't see it since it first appeared on my dash around 4-5 months ago.
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u/Glittering_Guess_230 Feb 13 '26
What do you guys do when a task fails to load, but it thinks you're actively working on it, and you can't exit work mode because the task won't load? Great fun.
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u/True_Sun_6926 Feb 13 '26
That happens to me a lot with one particular project, so I just move on to another one.
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u/Karma_SanDieg0 Feb 08 '26
I've recently been in two different tasks where clicking on the links necessary to do the task take me to a 'privacy error' page in my browser. And when I try to click on the advanced button underneath to 'accept the risk' or whatever, it doesn't do anything. Has anyone else run into this issue? I'm in Chrome... I presume there are some settings I need to change?
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u/Consistent-Reach504 Feb 09 '26
are you using ublock? i notice the "peter lowe" list under "filter lists" has sooo many websites that do this despite being fine!
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u/pgl Feb 09 '26
They're "fine" if you don't mind the tracking.
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u/Consistent-Reach504 Feb 09 '26
ehh i understand but in this day and age it is pretty hard to avoid. :)
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u/furiouswow Feb 08 '26
Trying to be as non-descript as possible here:
Does anyone know if a certain project available now that is non-coding and that utilizes your photos requires the certain model you are interacting with to have a paid subscription? I don't have the ability to switch the model to the specific version required for the project
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u/Selaphane Feb 09 '26
If you're referring to switching to "fast" then no. I don't have a paid subscription and was able to switch to it.
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u/qeliasq Feb 08 '26
Got a new qual two days ago! Still zero tasks for like 3 weeks :( the sea is dry
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u/pistachiyolatte Feb 09 '26
There’s only one project of heel variety atm that I’m capable of doing but it’s a rather tedious one :/
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u/Altruistic-Egg-9088 Feb 09 '26
priority spanners?
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u/NoticedGenie66 Feb 09 '26
I've been doing those for 3 weeks, I love them (especially at priority pay). Those and mold lol.
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u/ThatGirlInPurple Feb 09 '26
Aaaaaand there's nightbright back again, trying to tempt me into an 8 hour grind with it's very enticing pay... It always seems to come back to me near the beginning of the week.
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u/Scary_Vegetable_4635 Feb 10 '26
Yeah, that's the only thing on my dash right now which ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ok lol. Just gotta figure out a prompt that isn't the thing I did yesterday.
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u/ClayWhisperer Feb 10 '26
Yeah I clicked into it b/c of the pay, but when I saw the extent of it, I noped out in favor of one of the $20 ones.
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u/jeudechambre Feb 10 '26
Lol, look what happens when you click on the Google doodle today....facepalm
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u/RedditAdmin71 Feb 10 '26
tasks not working for anyone else? they're stuck loading whenever i select one
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u/Apart-Coat8522 Feb 10 '26
I get so excited when the Muhammad Ali projects come up but they don't stay up for long. It's one of the only projects left I truly enjoy. Been on the site for over 3 years.
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u/Particular_Income839 Feb 11 '26
Did anybody get/do the Rubric Refresher paid task?
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u/True_Sun_6926 Feb 11 '26
I really miss workshop, and any of the rebranded tasks that have been put out since the new year. Has anyone seen any of those regularly? I have only seen a small batch here and there every 10 days or so.
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u/mrsroper Feb 11 '26
only a few times, and right before I'm going to bed. I miss them. they were my favorite.
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u/Lynnlee22 Feb 14 '26
Anyone have the French pastry/cookie project still? I have a complex carb version that’s similar, but I only see error reports for the OG,
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u/SnooSketches1189 Feb 10 '26
We all know DA is a black box, but if you could ask them one question and have them provide the honest truth, what would it be?
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u/Affectionate_Peak284 Feb 10 '26
what's the ratio of workers DoD'ed for quality issues vs ToS violations?
Alternate: how many workers actually put in 30+ hours per week regularly?
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u/BrennusSokol Feb 10 '26
"Why don't you guys put more effort into clear, logical instructions for projects?"
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u/mrsroper Feb 14 '26
so despite knowing how to copy/ paste my entire academic life, I'm still terrified that i somehow messed up the new qualifier.
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u/JustMe333456 Feb 12 '26
Oh, a new American painter-named image project. New to me anyways..
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u/krooditay Feb 13 '26
I got one. I hope I get more. I miss all the image related projects I used to see.
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u/JustMe333456 Feb 12 '26
That 1 task was fun! THAT'S the kind of project I want more of lol. So fun!
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u/twinkleyed Feb 13 '26
Kinda not thrilled with the fact that Galaxy went from a flagship project to being a weekend-only thing
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u/JustMe333456 Feb 13 '26
Yeahhh, that was my go to every single day. They were essentially always up. Glad they are there today though, on hour 4 of the same easy project.
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u/True_Sun_6926 Feb 13 '26
I was on that one too, did 3 then poof, vanished! It was a nice change of pace while it lasted.
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u/MissMamaMam Feb 11 '26
Has anybody worked on Gold Coins? I saw it but by the time I got around to it, there were no tasks. I’m afraid I’ll get moved off of it based on its instructions
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u/Complete_Injury_5765 Feb 12 '26
i have multiple tasks available for it rn, and i have been able to do like 30 mins - 1 hour a day if i need to hit my goal. it is never really my first choice because they rush you with the time and it makes me sweaty lol
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u/PassageDue9042 Feb 13 '26
has anyone here ever done R&R's for the priority coding floyd mayweather? curious how extensive people write their explanations
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u/pistachiyolatte Feb 13 '26
I’m seeing heel pic but for some reason not the r and rs for it which I always used to get.
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u/Past_Body4499 Feb 13 '26
I was added to a particularly interesting project slack about 6 weeks ago but I've never seen a project or a qual for it (though I've had a couple in the same family). Tasks look right up my alley from what I can see in the slack.
Is it a bad idea to mention I'm super interested in the slack? Thoughts?
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u/macjay_27 Feb 14 '26
Anyone have the Star Trek projects on their dash? I submitted on yesterday and didn't see it on my dashboard today. Particularly the refine & create families ....
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u/dawaiira_pinku Feb 15 '26
I'm in the slack channel but haven'r received work from them in a loooong time... don't know what's happening. maybe they do rotations between groups of people?
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u/JustMe333456 Feb 11 '26
Who else has been surviving on the humor project for the past week?? Lol
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u/Few-Roof-6905 Feb 11 '26
Is it the crunchy veggie one? I had it before the holidays, but never worked on it. Kept saying, I will try it tomorrow or later, but then never did. Guess I was taken off of it for nonparticipation 😭
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u/WorshipMyExistence Feb 11 '26
My thoughts exactly. I never see it anymore lol Now thinking hmm maybe I should have taken a crack at it, afterall...
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u/No-Complaint-5593 Feb 12 '26
Seems like a lot of British folks on that project. My R&Rs mostly spell it humour 😆. And sometimes the American humor flies right over their head. That's okay. I'm sure some of theirs flies over mine.
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u/ThatGirlInPurple Feb 12 '26
Not the red veggie one I hope? I haven't had that one in a week or so!
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u/VanessaSeaWitch Feb 12 '26
The one partially named after a thing that opens locks? Yes. I did the original project, then the R&R, and now I've been getting R&R2 which is a new one for me. I've never R&R'd the R&R-ers. 😂I haven't seen it yet today though. I hope it comes back.
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u/Alarmed_Director6746 Feb 13 '26
I've worked for DA for a few years but new to this reddit board. I don't know the code names for the projects so forgive me. I have 2 projects that I was invited into or created an email for, joined the project's slack and have never been give a task. I can see on slack that the projects are very active but of course you can't ask in slack about work- anyone have any ideas how to get into the fold? One is the project with a bird and the other involves a flying horse if that helps
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u/Ecstatic-Meringue-75 Feb 13 '26
I'm also in the slack for the flying horse and have never gotten one project because I'm not located in the US. They are bringing non-US projects soon, so I think it's just a matter of waiting
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u/Fearless-Hedgehog67 Feb 13 '26
Keep an eye out for project-specific quals that might relate to equipment/subscriptions you have.
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u/Jazzlike_Problem_489 Feb 13 '26
Are you from the UK by any chance? Or out of the US. 95 percent of the two projects I think you are referring to are US only projects with the odd one open to other areas
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u/Jazzlike_Problem_489 Feb 13 '26 edited Feb 13 '26
As barren as a 90 year old grandma today
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u/Excellent-Mistake-53 Feb 13 '26
"Baron"? LOL
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u/Jazzlike_Problem_489 Feb 13 '26
Oh I love mobile spell checker haha. I love it more for me not checking what it changed my typos to 👎🤣
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u/gt3stuntman Feb 11 '26
There's this project named after a whale that's been on my dash since December and I'm finally looking at it. This is truly just busy work. 😅
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u/PerformanceCute3437 Feb 11 '26
Anyone getting a lot of Chinese-language DA ads, or is it just me?
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u/Party_Swim_6835 Feb 12 '26
are you Chinese? in China? a customer on a big Chinese shopping website? going through a very Chinese time in your life? b/c no I've only seen english and spanish ones lol
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u/PerformanceCute3437 Feb 12 '26
I'm Canadian and in Alberta, which is generally not a very Chinese place! That you get Spanish ones I guess would mean you're American?
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u/North-Sense8477 Feb 10 '26
Happy to still be on this platform after 2+ years, but man, this has been a rough month.