OT: ChaCha

[cukal6]

How do you guys answer a question if you can't see the recent activity? I feel like i"m going to get in trouble because I can't see what they are really asking.

 

[YorkieMommyKandis]

First, I'm not upset - mainly because I've never figured on ChaCha being around forever and I figured I'd use it for what it's worth now (and boy that extra couple of hundred bucks have come in handy!), but I won't count on it as part of my budget. I've also always assumed ChaCha was building a vast database, though I always thought it would be so they could launch their own search engine (a la Google), but have more precise results.

That doesn't mean they have carte blanche to treat me as useless. What I find most interesting about the increase in auto answers is that ChaCha is billed as a "human powered search engine" - I don't necessarily think they created expeditors to get rid of guides or to lower the amount of money they make (even though that is definitely a negative consequence of the role). I do think it was supposed to make searches go faster - so that theoretically even though you are searching for every answer (not easy, gimme questions), it should balance out due to enhanced quick links, etc. I don't think that vision has come to fruition yet, and may never. Perhaps the role of exepeditor will go the way of the do-do once they realize it isn't working out as they envisioned.

And even though I don't get as many "easy" questions (like send me a joke), the new Universe screen (where everything is there together) works much faster and I think I'm actually answering most questions in less time than before. Now if only the traffic would pick back up...

Thank you for the different perspective. I definitely need that right now! I do agree that it is odd to use auto answers when it is supposed to be human powered. The new universe does seem to make things faster. I haven't had any bad days with it yet, whereas, with the old system some days were perfect and some were terribly slow.

Oh well....I am off to WDW on Tuesday, so I will be able to escape the ChaCha stress soon enough! I just had my hours cut at my real job and now with worrying about ChaCha I am really going to need this vacation!

 

[chell]

I agree with you! I can't tell you how much I HATE the new expeditor position. Apparently, they figured, why pay guides 20 cents to answer a simple joke/weather question when we can just pay 2 cents (or whatever they are getting) for that. So now, every question I get requires that I do research. Please don't get me wrong; I am not complaining because I am too lazy to research the answers, but when I have a question that takes 5 minutes to answer, I need something quick to answer to balance it out. Now I don't have that. I have occasionally been getting some phone number requests, but they are the ones that are difficult because something is spelled wrong, to where the computer can't answer it. What I don't understand is what would make someone want to do the expeditor position for that little pay amount. I see people reporting on the ChaCha boards that they are making something like $3 an hour. Figuring that is before taxes, and they are self employed....how much are they coming out after taxes? It must be terrible! The fact that they are willing to work for that amount makes it possible for ChaCha to get away with this. I apologize for this rant, but I am really ticked about what seems like another pay decrease. I have dodged the 10 cents a query, by making top guide, but I feel like now they are going to get me with this. Is anyone else upset about this?

Expeditors don't answer questions though. Are they already sending out auto responses?

 

[ajh88]

Thank you for the different perspective. I definitely need that right now! I do agree that it is odd to use auto answers when it is supposed to be human powered. The new universe does seem to make things faster. I haven't had any bad days with it yet, whereas, with the old system some days were perfect and some were terribly slow.

Oh well....I am off to WDW on Tuesday, so I will be able to escape the ChaCha stress soon enough! I just had my hours cut at my real job and now with worrying about ChaCha I am really going to need this vacation!

Sorry to hear about your real job - that stinks.
But on the bright side, have a great time on your vacation!

 

[Trixiezzz]

Is anyone able to see the recent history for any texts?

 

[YorkieMommyKandis]

Is anyone able to see the recent history for any texts?

Very rarely am I able to see recent history. It is coming up blank most of the time. There is a technical issue with it right now that they say is being worked on.

 

[Mikelly1221]

I cannot see any recent history either, and I sent feedback for it. I will say that the questions are coming back to back-a very busy night! That's fine with me!

I am having a problem getting a chance to log off to just get up and stretch. The Available/Away switch is not an option-the questions come too fast! Oh well, I'd rather it like this than 3-5 minutes between questions!

 

[4boysrus]

Do we know if they are planning on putting the cancel button back, or someway not to accept the question? Sometimes the questions are coming so fast, you can't log out or switch to away. I know that I can just let it time out, but once that screen pops up, you can't click on anything else. The questions seem to be coming quicker lately. Hopefully things are falling back into place. I actually really like the new dashboard. My only complaints are the history (which they are working on), and no way to decline the query.

 

[IndianaPrincess]

I think they are working on it, but have given us no timeline.

I did 201 searches this week. If I don't make Top Guide, then I am giving up on ChaCha. Not to be negative, but 10 cents a question isn't worth it to me.

 

[Trixiezzz]

How do you send feedback?

 

[MushyMushy]

For those who are asking about the lack of recent history, when you get a question that has "Comment" in front of it and/or you think it comes from a previous question, you're supposed to answer it with: Due to a system issue, I am unable to see your recent history today. Please reply with your full question so we may answer it.

I really feel like I'm working blindly without the history! I can't tell you how much that history helped me form my answers.

Oh, and I'm still getting joke and other easy queries.

 

[Avonlady1001]

Do we know if they are planning on putting the cancel button back, or someway not to accept the question? Sometimes the questions are coming so fast, you can't log out or switch to away. I know that I can just let it time out, but once that screen pops up, you can't click on anything else. The questions seem to be coming quicker lately. Hopefully things are falling back into place. I actually really like the new dashboard. My only complaints are the history (which they are working on), and no way to decline the query.

Apparently the Expeditors have a button to click while they're still in a search that puts them to away automatically when they finish...SMS Guides need that! One of the mods on the forum mentioned that! Hopefully that's something they're working on.

What's been working for me is not clicking anything....when the ding comes too fast, just leave it alone and go to the bathroom or whatever...when you come back & click ok, it SHOULD say you've been logged out. So far this has worked...or, you can CTRL+ALT+DLT and shut down the firefox tabs you're working in so you don't accept the question & it's not counted against you.

 

[DVCBELLE]

Has anyone else noticed that the expeditors are really rewording the questions?

On the right side you can see the original question that was asked - MAKE SURE YOU ANSWER THAT QUESTION and NOT WHAT THE EXPEDITOR PUT IN

A few examples:
Question: Where is a good place to meet singles in SUBURB? (I am putting generic question)
Original question: Where in BIG CITY can I meet single guys maybe near SUBURB?
The expeditor took out the Big City name - I would not have known where the suburb was...

Example #2:
Question: Who is First Middle Last?
Original Text: Whos First Middle, LAST
Had I not looked at the original text I would not have realized that Middle was actually the last name and LAST was actually the person's name in the test signature.

I think part of the problem might be that some of the expeditors have never been guides and they don't realize how the questions come in sometimes or that you need ALL that info to answer the questions. I can't imagine that they are rewording and leaving info out. I don't get the point of having an expeditor reword - I think we should be answering the question as we get it - sometimes you need to see the context.

These are just a few examples that I remember but I would say 5-10 times last night the question I got was not what they typed

 

[MushyMushy]

OMG, thank you so much for pointing that out. I hadn't realized how much they were rewording the queries until yesterday when I saw someone posting it in the forums. They're mangling those queries and so often sending us the wrong quicklinks! It also annoys me when I see a perfectly worded query with good spelling & grammar and then the expediter messes it all up. What's THAT all about?

 

[IndianaPrincess]

The best one I saw for reworking the question was:

ORIGINAL: Do you have a joke for me tonight?

REWORDED: Tell me a dirty joke.

I guess that they have options of already written questions... and that is one of them. Hmmm... kinda makes a big difference though!

 

[Princess Michelle]

The best one I saw for reworking the question was:

ORIGINAL: Do you have a joke for me tonight?

REWORDED: Tell me a dirty joke.

I guess that they have options of already written questions... and that is one of them. Hmmm... kinda makes a big difference though!

I took the test for the guide position and the exbeditor position. They are not supposed to use those already written questions unless they are exactly what the person is asking.

They are also not supposed to change any information in the question, just clean it up and put it in the proper category.

I saw on another board where an exbeditor was saying she made 50.00 in 4 hours, they would have to be doing over 400 questions an hour for that to be possible. So either they were getting super easy ones that didn't need any work or else they were sending them through without fixing them properly.

I'm sure that just as it is with guides, there are those out there doing their jobs right and there are those who are just sending anything so they can get to the next question and make more money. I would rather make less and know my job is done right than make more and end up being fired for not doing it correctly.

 

[momof1princess]

i've had 1 search time out on me and the universe shutdown box pop up 2 x. once i closed the tab and logged back in, the next time i realized it was still running and kept going.

 

[Nik's Mom]

I just started as an expeditor. It's mostly just for fun because the pay stinks. Anyway, you are not supposed to change the question the way some of you are saying. All we are supposed to do is make sure the question starts with a certain word (we are given a list of acceptable words, example who, what, when) and clean up grammar problems. That is it. If there is a previous question that is identical to the one currently being asked, we can click on that question.

I have to say that I don't know how that poster said she made $50 in four hours. I have only made about $5 in 2 hours. It was pretty slow traffic.

 

[disneydreamin247]

I just started as an expeditor. It's mostly just for fun because the pay stinks. Anyway, you are not supposed to change the question the way some of you are saying. All we are supposed to do is make sure the question starts with a certain word (we are given a list of acceptable words, example who, what, when) and clean up grammar problems. That is it. If there is a previous question that is identical to the one currently being asked, we can click on that question.

I have to say that I don't know how that poster said she made $50 in four hours. I have only made about $5 in 2 hours. It was pretty slow traffic.

Don't you hate that "does" is NOT on the list?

 

[chell]

Wish I could make $50 in 4 hours! Heck, I haven't even made $50 since the new role started and I've been on a lot this weekend!