Mechanical Turk Skepticism

[chaos]

I was skeptical when I first signed up too. The first time I started browsing through the jobs and seeing all these 2 or 3 cent paying HITs, I thought at first that it was pretty worthless. I'm just glad I stuck with it, and figured out some ways to maximize how much I can earn. I still have a lot to learn, I'm not earning nearly as much as some of you, but I've had my first $100 week so I'm getting there.

[Turkberserk]

I still just Turk on the side, like at nights when I'm watching TV. When I first told my wife about it, she wasn't terribly impressed. However, over the last month, all of her kindle downloads have been paid for by my turking. That has changed her opinion somewhat, although not enough that she's tried it.

[renee1216]

Everyone I tell gives me a blank stare, then requests proof that I was paid for doing these tasks I'm telling them about. But I could care less, if you can't recognize some kind of income vs. no income as something worth doing, your loss as others have said.

[workasaurusrex]

I forget sometimes how crazy it sounds to be doing this kind of work. I was telling a friend about how I spent my weekend plugging away at a task, finishing a couple thousands HITs and now I'm waiting, crossing my fingers it will go OK and all will be approved. She looked at me and said 'you mean you did all that and you might not get paid?' And sadly I responded by saying, 'It's happened before unfortunately. And not only might I not get paid, but worse my rating could drop and I would be severly limited in the work I can do in the future.' She said nothing more and just looked at me like I was an idiot.

[ljohnson91]

Show the skeptics your earning totals for the month, then see who gets the last laugh
I've told my dad. He thinks I'm wasting my time. Hopefully I'll be able to prove him wrong in a month or two, when I get the hang of turking.

[detroitdongs]

if you can't recognize some kind of income vs. no income as something worth doing, your loss as others have said.

Nailed it. Certainly isn't the ideal way to pay the bills but it's something you can do while also looking for a legit job, plus you're not required to meet any kind of quota, you do what you feel like and have the time for. End of the day, you sat on your ass on the couch and made a few bucks, they sat on theirs and didn't.

[dack]

This IS a legit job. I made $2000 last month. That's as legit as it gets.

EDIT: I've made $708.09 since July 1st, and I've still got some work pending that isn't added into that total. Don't ever let someone tell you this isn't legitimate work.

[dianerm]

I get the same blank stares from people at time, and trying to explain it to them often feels like I'm trying to explain physics (which I know next to nothing about) to a toddler. I even get discouraged with turking at times myself, then I read the forums and get reminded that it IS possible for it to be helpful, so start plugging away again! Especially when I remember how often I have used it to pay for miscellaneous items or gas for my car. 50 more hits and I'll finally hit the 1000 mark, which to me some days seems like a lot, then see these posts and realize that there are people that do so many more per day, then feel like an idiot. However, I have learned to avoid it on the days that I am mentally/physically wiped from my full-time job. I tend to make a lot more errors then, which is also a part of the reason I tend to turk less frequently lately. Hopefully I will find a happy medium soon between the two.

[dakotaotter]

I talked my sister and niece into doing this. I think they both did it for a while for kicks. All of us tend to drift away from it when there is anything better to do. I was surprised that I first started in 2009, it doesn't seem like it was that long ago. I have done some the last month or so, but had a year long break in there. It's an easy 'job' to walk away from. Generally, I don't mention it to anyone. After all, who would think so little of themself to work for this little money?!

[quizno]

This IS a legit job. I made $2000 last month. That's as legit as it gets.

I don't want to be offensive, but for many people $2000 just wouldn't be enough to sustain a future for a family. $2000 is great for some people but I couldn't live the rest of my life on $24,000 a year.

That said, I'm hoping to make an average of $5 per day even when I find a new job. My intention is to have it supplement my retirement savings, and $2000 / year can be a big help on that front.