Mechanical Turk Suspensions and General Speculation

[AndreaR]

If you go to the Zoltar FAQ thread there should be a PandA link or two from there. The hits won't be available BUT if you click the PandA's and it only says "not available" you're fine. If you are blocked it will tell you, even if no hits are available.

It says "There are no hits available" when I put the cursor on my existing Zoltar PandA. I haven't had time to try this week, but the fact that it says this is a good indication that all is well, right? Fingers crossed.

 

[jan]

It says "There are no hits available" when I put the cursor on my existing Zoltar PandA. I haven't had time to try this week, but the fact that it says this is a good indication that all is well, right? Fingers crossed.

sounds like you are fine, let's see if the zoltars return

 

[Metallica]

I'm going to update this soon. Looking back on it, it was a very hasty post and I left a lot out that would make this better. Stay tuned
Edit: might as well include a FAQ as well so people won't have the read the long block of text

 

[Metallica]

Another day, another round of suspensions. They all seem to be related to the VSR requester. Once anyone(?) gets unsuspended and is willing to share details, I will update this with that information.

 

[Maxzine]

I was suspended today, got the email saying violation of Participation Agreement. I have about 400 barcodes pending. Have made 2 phone calls and about a dozen emails today, so far only got auto responses.

 

[kryss]

Another day, another round of suspensions. They all seem to be related to the VSR requester. Once anyone(?) gets unsuspended and is willing to share details, I will update this with that information.

Why do you seem to think its related to vsr?

 

[Metallica]

Why do you seem to think its related to vsr?

Three people (in addition to the person who commented above) have got the hammer. The thing in common for all of them was doing the latest VSR batch. I discounted it before, however this is a rather weird amount of people suspended, given having the same thing in common.

 

[kryss]

Three people (in addition to the person who commented above) have got the hammer. The thing in common for all of them was doing the latest VSR batch. I discounted it before, however this is a rather weird amount of people suspended, given having the same thing in common.

Yeah, but also a high amount of people with masters do VSR.

 

[Metallica]

Yeah, but also a high amount of people with masters do VSR.

That could just mean the ones suspended are missing QA checks. Of course, it's not like we will ever get a clear explanation on it. I'm aware of there being a "you were using automated methods to complete HITs" suspension reason, so maybe that plays a factor. Speculating gives me something to do, at least

 

[kryss]

That could just mean the ones suspended are missing QA checks. Of course, it's not like we will ever get a clear explanation on it. I'm aware of there being a "you were using automated methods to complete HITs" suspension reason, so maybe that plays a factor. Speculating gives me something to do, at least

Oh I'm definitely curious too. My thought process is if it has something to do w/ vsr, there would be a lot more suspensions than what we're seeing.

 

[Metallica]

Oh I'm definitely curious too. My thought process is if it has something to do w/ vsr, there would be a lot more suspensions than what we're seeing.

I hope we find out one day, although I'd prefer we do it without more suspensions. There's also the chance people aren't always honest about why they were suspended, which doesn't help. If another ban wave happens after their next batch, I feel I will be inclined to believe bans are happening because of VSR.

 

[Maxzine]

I don't think this has anything to do with VSR. I've been doing them for years. I've had Masters since 2012 and been turking since 2010.

Back in February, I noticed that everytime I emailed a requester I would get this odd "Policy TOS violation" email, it was saying that I was either using multiple accounts or I was a robot. Neither are true. I'm pretty sure I'm a human. I don't even use AHK. The only "scripts" I use are Scraper and Turkopticon. Anyway, because I got those emails after talking to requesters, I stopped emailing them. The first time I emailed one was the other day when I emailed Stone about her majority rules rejections. She was nice and reversed them. Then BOOM, another Policy violation email, only this time my account says I'm suspended.
I checked Amazon Payments, that seems to be okay. However, the money I transferred this morning at 7am never showed up. I was suspended at 10:30am.

 

[Metallica]

I don't think this has anything to do with VSR. I've been doing them for years. I've had Masters since 2012 and been turking since 2010.

Back in February, I noticed that everytime I emailed a requester I would get this odd "Policy TOS violation" email, it was saying that I was either using multiple accounts or I was a robot. Neither are true. I'm pretty sure I'm a human. I don't even use AHK. The only "scripts" I use are Scraper and Turkopticon. Anyway, because I got those emails after talking to requesters, I stopped emailing them. The first time I emailed one was the other day when I emailed Stone about her majority rules rejections. She was nice and reversed them. Then BOOM, another Policy violation email, only this time my account says I'm suspended.
I checked Amazon Payments, that seems to be okay. However, the money I transferred this morning at 7am never showed up. I was suspended at 10:30am.

Do you mind posting the email that kept sending you those messages? That is unheard of and Amazon usually suspends you right before giving you a copypasta, if you get one at all.

 

[Maxzine]

This was the first one, on Feb 18th.

Hello,

We are writing because our system recently detected activity on your Amazon Mechanical Turk account that may indicate a violation of the Participation Agreement/Conditions of Use for Amazon Mechanical Turk. To review the Participation Agreement/Conditions of Use, please visit this link:

http://www.mturk.com/mturk/conditionsofuse

By registering an account with Amazon Mechanical Turk, you accepted the Participation Agreement/Conditions of Use. If we determine that activity on your account violates the Participation Agreement/Conditions of Use, you risk having your account terminated.

I have listed additional information below about account activity that may result in termination of your Amazon Mechanical Turk account.

Thank you for participating in Amazon Mechanical Turk.

*****
Actions that can result in the termination of your account may include, but are not limited to:

* Multiple Accounts: Only one account is allowed per person. Signing up for multiple accounts or using multiple accounts simultaneously is prohibited.
* Multiple Users: Only the registered user may access an account and complete HITs for that account. More than one user accessing same account at the same time is prohibited.
* Use of Unauthorized Software: Automatic HIT completion through robots, scripts or other automated methods is not allowed; human intelligence is required for each task.

*****

Best regards,
Thank you.
Amazon.com

 

[kryss]

@Janthir, have you noticed any correlation between being suspended shortly after making a transfer to payments?

Edit - and or accepting/subbing hits on multiple lPs simultaneously?

 

[Metallica]

That's unique. I haven't seen that before. Can you PM me the email address that sent you this? I have only ever seen this email after someone WAS suspended and pestered them a lot.
Amazon isn't known for warning you so this is strange.
M @Maxzine

 

[Maxzine]

Amazon.com<contactus@mturk.com>

And the title of the email was just "A Message from Mechanical Turk"

 

[Metallica]

@Janthir, have you noticed any correlation between being suspended shortly after making a transfer to payments?

Edit - and or accepting/subbing hits on multiple lPs simultaneously?

I've seen few posts about being suspended after transferring, but I've seen plenty about people getting locked out of their payments account (and their money) after being suspended. I doubt transferring itself causes anything, bar maybe for substantial amounts of money (thousands).

I have also seen people make their fears known about different people turking on the same IP, and I'd say its a good reason to get suspended. While Amazon does allow you to do so, it isn't terribly hard for them to just decide to lump you under the "you're using multiple accounts" section on the participation agreement. One could fight them and threaten arbitration (a fun process) and probably win, but it's annoying nonetheless.

 

[Metallica]

Amazon.com<contactus@mturk.com>

And the title of the email was just "A Message from Mechanical Turk"

That's unfortunately the correct email. No post I've read until now has mentioned receiving an email about that. I suppose it is a good thing they're at least warning you now. Weird that you got it after messaging a requester. Let me know how your battle turns out.

 

[Maxzine]

So far I got two replies today, one repeating that it was a violation and they won't reopen it. And then a few hours later one saying they are forwarding it to the research team for review. It says to give them 2-3 days to make a decision.

I'm hoping someone else that got hit today shows up here, so I'll keep this tab open in hopes I'm not alone.