Making the Most of Mturk: Blog Posts v Site Reviews

There are a few requesters who use Mturk to generate page views for their websites by asking turkers to link to their site by way of a blog post.

Others just want feedback on their website and refer the link to turkers for their review.

However, I think it is important for requesters to distinguish between the kind of hits that they want.

If they want to generate page views, then their hit should request turkers to link to their site and make a favorable or at least not a negative post. They should not request for a review of the site by way of a blog post. Otherwise, they have no control over the blog posting of the turker. And if the request did not specify that the post should be neutral or positive, then the mere posting of the blog post by the turker would make them liable for payment. They cannot reject the hit because the turker did what was asked of him or her.

On the other hand, if the requester was looking for feedback to improve his site, then the hit should require the turker to submit his comments within the Mturk request window itself, and not through a blog post. Otherwise, the requester may have made the necessary changes to his site, but the outdated review would still be posted on the turker’s site. The turker would not be able to revise the review, unless he or she gets to accept another hit from the same requester requesting for an updated review. Since chance plays a big part in what hits a turker is able to accept at a given time — unless the requester directs the hit to a particular turker directly — then it’s possible that the requester will never be able to accept a similar hit from the same requester.

To sum up:
Pageviews — request for a favorable or neutral blog post. However, if the product or page is really not worthy, turkers may give their real opinion about it on their blog, regardless of the payment. And really, for $0.01, you can’t expect glowing reviews.
Reviews — request for the review to be posted within the Mturk hit itself, not in a blog post.

Beauty and Fashion Hints and Tips

I wish winter was over and summer was here. It’s easier to dress up and be fashionable when you’re not covered up in a bubble coat and snow boots.

I was tipped off about the site Futuregirls.net, which offers Beauty and Fashion Hints and Tips. At first glance, it makes recommendations of products related to makeup, hair, clothing, shoes, bags, jewelry, and strangely enough, electronics as well. I would have thought that these electronics would be related in someway to beauty and fashion. However, while cameras can be considered essential in the pursuit of beauty, I’m not so sure about the GPS and the HDMI cables. Perhaps a little more streamlining is in order.

The establishing webpage also needs a little more color and images to jazz it up, as well as a copyeditor to catch those grammatical errors that never fail to irritate me. “Jewery”? Really? In large font, at that.

When I clicked on the link to Futuregirls’ makeup page, there were only seven products being advertised, and no text to guide both those experienced and new to makeup as to what these products are for, what skin tone they would be best suited for, and which products they should be used with. A few tips on blending these products with others would have been ideal.

The link to the Futuregirls’ hair page also needed improvement. I wasn’t even sure if the products on the page were hair care products, beauty books, or biographies.

Finally, Futuregirls.net needs to work on its product presentation. Uggs are not the best way to lure me into an afternoon of shoe shopping, yet they were the first results when I went to click on the Shoes link. Bring out the pretty shoes first.

I tried clicking on the Shopping Cart link and I ended up in the Amazon webpage, which left me thinking, why do I need to go through Futuregirls.net when I can simply shop via Amazon? Futuregirls.net needs to give me additional value for my clicks: it has to give me content by way of product reviews, sale prices, and actual beauty and fashion tips before I consider using this website.

Turking for the Year



It’s hard, okay? Mturk pays in trickles. After a year, I haven’t even reached 1/10th of my goal. $12.121. Pathetic. And what’s that $0.001 tacked on at the end there? Did a requester really pay me a fraction of a cent?

And then there are all those DVDs that I bought that frittered away my travel money. Fine, I may have a copy of the Sweeney Todd deluxe version now, and the first three seasons of Quite Interesting but do I watch them nonstop? No, I don’t because by the time I got them, my fan love has waned and I had moved on to other fandoms. Makes for a waste of money, I guess. I should have just save my Mturk cents for my Metrocard.

And now I have a new goal, which is Paris. Ha! Let’s see how far turking will get me this time.

The only nice thing about today is the news that Terry Pratchett will soon be SIR Terry Pratchett. He says he’s flabergasted, but we his fans are pleased for him.

AME Cross Trader

In these hard times, I’m willing to explore anything, even the AME Cross Trader to aid in my forex transactions. I’m now trawling the webs educating myself about the market and how this product can help me. It’s only proper for the website to include a disclaimer that “The AME Cross Trader is not a “set and forget” EA that you turn on and magically make millions of dollars. Instead, it is a tool that can enhance your trading.” Given how easy it is to lose money on the speculative markets, one really has to be fully informed before one embarks on any trades.

Ecommerce For Everyone

Ecommerce For Everyone allows people to sell Amazon.com products on their website. It’s similar to what the Amazon affiliates program offers, except that instead of signing up as an Amazon affiliate directly, Ecommerce For Everyone has three three at-cost packages to set it up for you: E-Commerce Lite for $9.99/mo; E-Commerce Pro for $19.99/mo; and E-Commerce Platinum for $29.99/mo. Discounts are available for those who get the bi-annual or annual plans.

The site features a demo video that better explains  how the system works.

Three good things about it:

• the website has a forum where users can interact with other users and discuss site promotion, ask for solutions or critiques, or air concerns;
• it also provides online and toll-free (386-8682061) tech support;
• nothing to download or install.

You can sign up for an Ecommerce for Everyone package, or you can sign up for the Amazon Affiliates program. I guess your decision depends on your comfort level with the net.

Cat in My Christmas

Winter turns to thoughs of warmth and what could be warmer than a soft furry cat nuzzling against you in bed? It’s a good thing my tabby Peaches is trained to wee in her special corner before getting in bed with me. I remember an old orange tom I used to have. It’s favorite spot was on top of the television, and one really cold night, he really let himself go. On top of the television. Lazy cat. I wish I had known about the website Your Special Cat then. I could have taken advantage of some of the tips about cat urine removal. Boy, there are quite a few articles about urine there. As well as cat vomit, cat colds, and hairball. No Lolcats, this site. It’s filled with practical advice.

I’ll say this, the links and products are interesting, and now that I know that there’s such a thing as personalized cat checks, I’m tempted to get a set to use when I buy Peaches’s special needs. But probably not when I buy stocks or pay for my mortgage, though. Mweh.

The website confused me, though. It didn’t have a clear header so you don’t really know the title of the blog, unless from the URL. The sidebar containing links have a pink on violet motif, which makes them hard to read. I’m also bothered by the off-center alignment of the cat photos: are they really supposed to be right-aligned? There’s so much empty wasted space beside the photo, and it’s right in the middle of my field of vision. Perhaps it’s just Firefox; perhaps it’s just me.

From Here to There

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Earflstories on YouTube

Joined a new channel on YouTube today: http://www.youtube.com/earflstories and here are just some of the videos that I liked.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63nZPmGMVWw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ62LTFgR-M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a1mQHotWVE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmdXznQA71E

My New York Piggy

My mturk money dropped from $145 because I bought the Sweeney Todd DVD and other stuff. But there are videojug hits again, and there are nearly 30,000 hits to choose from so I have no doubt I can get my balance up again.

Crushing Someone on the Nets

It was 1991, my friend Jojo just turned 32 and discovered the internets for the first time. Specifically, Match.com We were necessarily skeptical but he met Ruud, who didn’t turn out to be a bogeyman. After a few real time dates, they ended up with two puppies and a hybrid car. Hurrah, internets.

That was in 1991. Nearly 20 years later, the internets became slightly freakier.

I can’t imagine how Jojo would even begin his search for true love today. Facebook, Multiply, blogs — everything is so out there and everyone is connected. Of course, friending someone who is a friend of a friend is infinitely safer than chatting up a total stranger, but I remember how Jojo literally found the strength to reach out because of his relative anonymity. The internets freed him from the bounds of friendship and his old self and left him able to reinvent and rediscover himself.

He had agonized over the then new issue of anonymity v. trust v. personal safety. He wanted to establish a connection with his new faceless stranger friends but he was aware that if he was being coy, then the other person could be concealing so much more. Oh, the juggling act of privacy and friending.

Fast forward to 2008 and we discover Crush or Flush. Chatting through text or YM, without the other person having to find out where you are. It’s another social networking site that lets people discover other people through their interests and social demographics. If you like someone, you Crush them. If they like you back, they Crush you and you end up with a Mutual Crush. (Awww, high school prom, anyone?)

The important difference is that Crush or Flush comes with its own “telephone operator” to block unwanted messages. If you want to drop someone, you Flush them, and they will never know that they got flushed because they don’t have your real digits. As the site promises:

If someone harasses you or causes a problem, we will block his number and that person will permanently disappear. No one every gets your e-mail address, real name, or cell phone number – they always remain private.

I guess people can always agree to be more open and truthful as the relationship develops but at least it’s a safeguard against freaky people who reveal their icky quirks too early. Me, I’m a believer in facetime and long relationships where you goad the other person into showing their worst, but yes, sometimes, even I wish for an intermediary to tell the other person, No.