Zoltar FAQ

[Turkiphee]

Seeking some feedback here that I hope will be helpful to others... Specifically, I am looking to increase the speed at which I complete each Zoltar Website Evaluation HIT... Unlike most posts, I am not concerned about catching them because that doesn't seem to be an issue for me.

I am trying to get over the hump of only being able to only complete 90-130 of the $0.12 Website Evaluations each day before they run out. Most often, by the time I see the really fast people reach the daily cap hit 200-225, I have only completed about 80-90 Zoltar Websites Evals. So clearly my problem is that I am not completing them quickly enough...

Spoiler: Details of my general approach here...

Log in or register now. to view Spoiler content!

What I am most interested in learning from those who frequently cap is the following:
1. Do you complete the HITs in your queue while your Zoltar Panda continues to run? Or do you allow your queue to fill-up, then shut off the Zoltar Panda while you complete all of the HITs, then restart it. I've received feedback from a few daily zoltar cappers that they prefer the latter.
2. What % of website links are people actually opening? For instance, I don't need to open Jobsbucket links to know what information to input into the HIT because it's all right there in the URL. Over time I've certainly gotten faster and can predict more sites... So I am curious to know if the really fast people only need to actually load only something like 50% of the websites.
3. How long does it take on average to complete each HIT?
4. Compared to when you started, what is one thing that really helped speed up how quickly you complete each Zoltar?

It would be great to get feedback from some of the frequent daily Zoltar cappers...
@P L A Y E R 9 1 @MindNumbing @Turkiphee @mordea

1. I never shut off the Zoltar Panda, it stays running the whole time.

2. When you say "opening" do you mean clicking on the link and not perusing the website or do you mean not clicking on the link at all? I ask because the latter, I think, is one of the reasons people get blocked. I think one of the purposes of them having us do these HITs is to bring traffic to the sites. Also, from their perspective, how can we say we evaluated a site we did not even visit? So not clicking at all, I think, is a problem. Even if you are familiar with the site (like JobsBucket) you still have to click on the link, you just don't actually have to peruse the site. To answer your question, I click on EVERY single link, I just don't actually look at the pages of the ones I'm familiar with. Basically, for JobsBucket, I just click the link (I don't actually go the the window or Tab), fill out the info and then close the JobsBucket window or tab.

3. I use the floating timer script (https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/7898-mmmturkeybacon-floating-timers) to time myself on each HIT. 7 out of 10 websites I do take less than 20 seconds. At Least 1 out of 10 take about 40 seconds. When I first started capping, my times were under 25 seconds (7 out of 10 Hits) and 40 seconds (1 out of 10) respectively. So, if you keep most of them under 25 seconds, you will definitely cap (this is assuming your panda is catching them, of course).

4. I think you get faster the more you do them. Also, I'm not advising this, but on Doctors/Dentists/Spa sites, I don't spend too much time on them trying to figure out if they have multiple locations. I just glance at the website, sometimes they have a link that says "Locations" or they actually list the addresses at the top of the page. If these are not present, sometimes you can just tell which companies are small and which ones may have multiple locations.

Bonus: Only scripts I run during Zs are The Zoltar script, Google auto reload, Floating timer and Panda Crazy.

 

[Tandem In Time]

1. I never shut off the Zoltar Panda, it stays running the whole time.
2. When you say "opening" do you mean clicking on the link and not perusing the website or do you mean not clicking on the link at all? I ask because the latter, I think, is one of the reasons people get blocked. I think one of the purposes of them having us do these HITs is to bring traffic to the sites. So not clicking at all, I think, is a problem. Even if you are familiar with the site (like JobsBucket) you still have to click on the link, you just don't actually have to peruse the site. To answer your question, I click on EVERY single link, I just don't actually look at the pages of the ones I'm familiar with. Basically, for JobsBucket, I just click the link (I don't actually go the the window or Tab), fill out the info and then close the JobsBucket window or tab.
3. I use the floating timer script (https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/7898-mmmturkeybacon-floating-timers) to time myself on each HIT. 7 out of 10 websites I do take less than 20 seconds. At Least 1 out of 10 take about 40 seconds. When I first started capping, my times were under 25 seconds (7 out of 10 Hits) and 40 seconds (1 out of 10) respectively. So, if you keep most of them under 25 seconds, you will definitely cap (this is assuming your panda is catching them, of course).
4. I think you get faster the more you do them. Also, I'm not advising this, but on Doctors/Dentists/Spa sites, I don't spend too much time on them trying to figure out if they have multiple locations. I just glance at the website, sometimes they have a link that says "Locations" or they actually list the addresses at the top of the page. If these are not present, sometimes you can just tell which companies are small and which ones may have multiple locations.

Bonus: Only scripts I run during Zs are The Zoltar script, Google auto reload, Floating timer and Panda Crazy.

Thank you very much for replying!

I began timing more closely today and found that in reality, I am sub-25 sec for only 2 out of 10 sites, 30-35 sec for 5-7 out of 10 sites... but then 1 in every 10 sites completely derailed me and I was taking 60-180 seconds as I hunted for information... I will definitely try out the floating timer as you suggested.

I do need to figure out how to speed up website load times (varies between 2-20 seconds depending on the site), but I mostly just need to practice on completing Zoltars more quickly.

Indeed, in regards to #2, I did actually mean clicking on the link and loading the website... So far I had been doing the same as you in that I always open every site, and occasionally don't need to peruse the website to fill in the information.

In regards to blocks, I had not heard that not-clicking the links as being a potential cause for a block... I had always assumed, and seen others hint at, blocks being issued for over-using the Website NOT Found option... I had seen someone on the forums once say they always mark the websites as "not found" if it took more that 20 seconds to load... and to me, that seems like a sure-fire way to receive a block.

 

[Turkiphee]

Thank you very much for replying!

I began timing more closely today and found that in reality, I am sub-25 sec for only 2 out of 10 sites, 30-35 sec for 5-7 out of 10 sites... but then 1 in every 10 sites completely derailed me and I was taking 60-180 seconds as I hunted for information... I will definitely try out the floating timer as you suggested.

While I do need to work on website load times, I mostly just need to practice on completing Zoltars more quickly.

Indeed, I did actually meant clicking on the link and loading the website... So far I had been doing the same as you in that I open every site but occasionally don't need to peruse the website in the case of the highly frequently appearing websites.

In regards to blocks, I had not heard that not-clicking the links as being a potential cause for a block... I had always assumed, and seen others hint at, blocks being issued for over-using the Website NOT Found option... I had seen someone on the forums once say they always mark the websites as "not found" if it took more that 20 seconds to load... and to me, that seems like a sure-fire way to get blocked from Zoltars.

There was a guy who reported getting blocked for just filling out the information without actually clicking the links. Apparently, he was late for an appointment or something and needed to quickly finish his queue and leave the house.

 

[Turkiphee]

@Sciency McScienceface
This may be obvious but I always zoom out (to 67%) on evaluation page, that way I don't have to scroll at all to type (don't know if that makes any sense to you). Now, when you do zoom out, you won't be able to see the times on the Floating Timer. You'd have to edit the Floating Timer code to enlarge the time(s).

 

[ChristopherASA]

If you've got a full queue of Zs (or not, I guess) how do you handle CAPTCHAs?

 

[Squatty]

If you've got a full queue of Zs (or not, I guess) how do you handle CAPTCHAs?

I keep a hit open in another tab that I know always has hits, then I use that to clear the captcha and either do that hit quickly or return it. Just make sure it isn't hosted on Endor.

 

[ChristopherASA]

Ahhhhh, yes. Actually, I was thinking about this late last night and came to the same conclusion. Thanks for the word, @Squatty