OT: ChaCha

[GoofyBaby]

Wow. . I am already ready to give up. Someone asked me who pays ChaCha guides and my session terminated at 4:46. Was I supposed to find a web page that specifically mentions who pays us?

I've already had 4 session terminations after about 4 minutes. Are those going to go against me?

 

[Kate and Pete]

This is really crappy - for all the reasons you've already stated! I hate this "punish everyone else for the behavior of a few...." Why don't they simply cut the pay if you fall below a certain accuracy - that way, those of us who are doing well can keep on going! I don't know if once school starts I'll even have time to do 300 searches/wk. I was happy with my $15/week for fun money. Shame on ChaCha!!!!

 

[Pezalicious]

I'm completely shocked by the new payment system! They're punishing people for not being on enough, and they're basing it on accuracy when we can't even check on how we're doing. It seems so shady! Also, while most questions I receive don't take very long, the process of having their page load, sending the answer, and receiving another question usually takes 3 minutes. That would be a maximum of 20 questions an hour at 10 cents.. $2 an hour?! Even if It was 30 questions an hour, it's only $3. The minimum wage where I live is much higher than the rest of the country, so I'm unsure of what it is. But I think we'd have to answer 55 questions in an hour to reach it. Impossible!

 

[plummer925]

Wow - I'm glad you all posted the info about the pay reduction. I signed up and have been studying the site to get ready for my simulation test. I'm not going to bother anymore. .20 hardly seemed worth it - .10 is DEFINITELY not worth it (for me at least).

Thanks for posting that info everyone!!

 

[Mom2micayla]

Big shocker we can't get into the forums. People are probably beyond livid. Imagine the people that have been there forever? Or the ones that use that as their sole income (which IMO is crazy, but whatever). They must be having a heart attack right now!

 

[bigolive9]

Is there a way to quit if you haven't set up your pay options yet? I have no intention of doing this enough to be a top guide- I really only get on for a couple hours total every day, if that. I rarely get on on the weekend.

Given that I don't do much on there, it is really not worth $.10 a query. Also, a lot of searches take between 3 and 4 minutes, making it even less worth it. Throw in all the system issues they have been having recently, and there really is no point.

I do think this is a way to get people to quit. I am sure they have had a lot of complaints about non-quality answers, and I am very sure they have had a lot of new guides sign up. I also see this as a way of punishing all for the actions of a few. Even the link from the email is messing up.

 

[momof1princess]

haha, yeah, the knowledge base is down, i wonder why? *rolls eyes*

 

[Shagley]

The problem is that it will be the Guides that give the correct, well thought out answers that quit. The Guides that are gaming the system and only spend 20 seconds per query, giving made up answers, and linking to ChaCha.com won't be affected as much. They can still make some money because it only takes them a few seconds to give a crappy answer. It is those of us who take the time to find the correct answers that will find it isn't worth our time. It really is a shame, and they are going about it all wrong.

 

[GoofyBaby]

Does anyone have any tips for queries asking for information on a non-famous person? I had someone asking me for any information on a person and I couldn't find the person. So I asked if they could provide birth date, zip code or age and just sourced the ChaCha home page. That was probably wrong, but I didn't know what site to source since I couldn't find an answer!

Any ideas?

 

[GoofyBaby]

The problem is that it will be the Guides that give the correct, well thought out answers that quit. The Guides that are gaming the system and only spend 20 seconds per query, giving made up answers, and linking to ChaCha.com won't be affected as much. They can still make some money because it only takes them a few seconds to give a crappy answer. It is those of us who take the time to find the correct answers that will find it isn't worth our time. It really is a shame, and they are going about it all wrong.

You mean there are guides out there that are dishonest and don't provide correct, factual answers? I thought QC was supposed to catch them. I just got started today and I am stressing over trying to provide the best answer I can. That frustrates me that people take advantage of wonderful opportunities like this one and we all have to suffer as a result!

 

[Disneyfan1977]

I failed too. My DS was glued to my hip when I attempted the test. I am really upset because I really could have used the extra money. Anyone know if you can retake it?

 

[ajh88]

So I watched the video and read the FAQs about the pay system. What has me confused is they kept saying go "back" to 10 cents an inquiry - as though that is how much anyone is making now? I searched for guide pay and nothing came up as currently getting paid 10 cents.

Oh well - we'll see what happens. They seem to be changing a lot lately and I'm willing to work another couple of weeks at 20 cents a query and go from there. It seems strange that they just rolled out the new guide pay (for apprentice guides) and less than a month later, they're changing to this.

Top Guide isn't really a "reward" anymore then is it? I'm interested to see the reaction on the forums. Though perhaps if a bunch of guides stop working, I'll get more queries and be busier. I'll try to stay on the sunny side for now!

 

[AUDramaQueen]

You mean there are guides out there that are dishonest and don't provide correct, factual answers? I thought QC was supposed to catch them. I just got started today and I am stressing over trying to provide the best answer I can. That frustrates me that people take advantage of wonderful opportunities like this one and we all have to suffer as a result!

Oh yeah, you'll find out soon enough when you try to go back and find where the last guide got their answer. The link will be ChaCha.com and the information will be WRONG! Which leaves you to clean up a mess and not make ChaCha look incompetent.

I understand them wanting to take care of the bad guides, but seriously, they could have some sort of an accuracy scale for those of us who don't want to be on that much. I have never gotten a QC e-mail, but I don't have 300 searches a week either.

Too bad we can't send anything to their feedback or even post on a forum.

 

[Jenna45]

Well I can not get on to read the guidelines, but from what you all are saying I am out, I was just doing this for fun, and well I am not wasting my time doing it for .10....

There is no way I can do 300 searches a week, I could not even get to 250...

 

[Jennifer823]

Anybody able to cut and paste the new pay scale info here? I can't get onto the Knowledge Base.

 

[Nanu57v]

Hi all,
I completed my 3 tests. As soon as I hit the "done" button, a message popped up saying they couldn't use my services at this time. What does that mean? Did I fail? I tried to log back in but is says "suspended" when I try to log in to see if I failed or what?

So sorry that happened to you! Maybe you can apply again in a few weeks. I wonder if they are going to lose some guides with the new rules.

 

[MushyMushy]

Big shocker we can't get into the forums. People are probably beyond livid. Imagine the people that have been there forever? Or the ones that use that as their sole income (which IMO is crazy, but whatever). They must be having a heart attack right now!

Oh yeah, people are ticked! I was reading the forums before it went down. You've got about 95% (pulled that figure out of a hat ) of us really angry and thinking it's a bad thing. Then there's about 4% who are being pretty neutral and thinking they'll see how it works out. Then there's the 1% who are employees, mods, and butt kissers who are sooooooo happy about the changes because it certainly won't affect them.

Pretty predictable response. But that 1% kind of reminds me of the people on other forums who like to brag that they don't even notice the rising gas and grocery prices.

 

[What are we doing?]

The minimum wage where I live is much higher than the rest of the country, so I'm unsure of what it is. But I think we'd have to answer 55 questions in an hour to reach it. Impossible!

It seems like ChaCha is trying to get around the minimum wage laws by calling you "Independent Contractos." Yet, they say "how" you can do the job, ie. you must check history and can't use scripts or bots.

I wonder how you'd report that to the IRS.

Big shocker we can't get into the forums. People are probably beyond livid. Imagine the people that have been there forever?

I thought you couldn't say anything bad about ChaCha at the forums. When I read the user agreement, it sounded like you could get fired from what you said there.

You mean there are guides out there that are dishonest and don't provide correct, factual answers? I thought QC was supposed to catch them.

I read on the forums that they QC "every" answer. If that was the case, they could just get rid of the bad guids, no?

Well I can not get on to read the guidelines, but from what you all are saying I am out, I was just doing this for fun, and well I am not wasting my time doing it for .10....

There is no way I can do 300 searches a week, I could not even get to 250...

At 3 minutes per search, that's 15 hours each week!

 

[Nanu57v]

Yay! I finally got my acceptance email!

So I logged in and my first query was. . .MORE PLEASE. I checked the recent activity and they were looking for directions from El Paso to Monterrey, Mexico. The previous guide got them started but ran out of room and asked if they wanted more. But my directions were different than what she gave and I also did not have enough room to give all the directions! I had to cut them off and ask them if they still wanted more. I took way too long and I am worried I am going to get a QC on my first query!

Someone tell me it will get better!

For the more questions just put the last guides source into your browser so you can see what they were looking at. But I've gotten a few that have nothing to do with the source.

 

[Jennifer823]

I read on the forums that they QC "every" answer.

Did ChaCha mods or whatever actually say that? With some of the answers I see in the history.. I doubt they check even a quarter of them!