No Emoji in Gig Description& Forced to Take Test Prior to Publish

[silberma1976]

I went to create a new gig, and I tried to put some emotions in the gig descriptions to be told they were illegal characters. And when I went to create a new gig in the writing category, I could not publish without taking the 40-minute English skills test. So, two FYI for you guys. You may be required to take a test to prove your skills before being able to publish a new Gig.

[ssj1236]

Honestly, this sounds like a pretty good idea to me but is the test really 40 minutes long?

[franklegacy]

Actually I do not think that sellers will be required to take tests prior to posting a gig, I think fiverr decided to give you a test because of the emoticons.

[vickiespencer]

Actually I do not think that sellers will be required to take tests prior to posting a gig, I think fiverr decided to give you a test because of the emoticons.

I think Fiverr decided to give you a test because of the emoticons

I am wondering why you would doubt @silberma1976’s word? Do you really think Fiverr would punish him for attempting to use emoticons in his gig description? :thinking:

I am about to make a new gig in the writing category. I will let you know if I had to take an English skills test and how long it took to take that test. However, I have too much work to do in the next few days to make a new gig so I will not be back until next week. 😉

Honestly, this sounds like a pretty good idea

I agree. There are too many “writers” on Fiverr that cannot write, and they are giving the real writers a bad name.

[franklegacy]

I think Fiverr decided to give you a test because of the emoticons

I am wondering why you would doubt @silberma1976’s word? Do you really think Fiverr would punish him for attempting to use emoticons in his gig description? :thinking:

I am about to make a new gig in the writing category. I will let you know if I had to take an English skills test and how long it took to take that test. However, I have too much work to do in the next few days to make a new gig so I will not be back until next week. 😉

Honestly, this sounds like a pretty good idea

I agree. There are too many “writers” on Fiverr that cannot write, and they are giving the real writers a bad name.

Do you really think Fiverr would punish him for attempting to use emoticons in his gig description?

Not a punishment but rather a test. Imagine you wrote an essay then added a smiley face, print it then hand it over for final mark. Would the teacher mark that as proper English?

[gamoss]

Actually I do not think that sellers will be required to take tests prior to posting a gig, I think fiverr decided to give you a test because of the emoticons.

Actually there are certain categories that requires doing the test if you want to publish a gig on that category. And Writing category seems to be one of those categories, which is just to bring more quality to the gigs.

[uk1000]

Actually I do not think that sellers will be required to take tests prior to posting a gig, I think fiverr decided to give you a test because of the emoticons.

If you go to edit a gig, in the overview section it says:

" Please note: Some categories require that sellers verify their skills.".

It might say that no matter what the gig category is but require certain tests to be taken depending on the gig category (like English in the writing category).

[lenasemenkova]

I went to create a new gig, and I tried to put some emotions in the gig descriptions to be told they were illegal characters. And when I went to create a new gig in the writing category, I could not publish without taking the 40-minute English skills test. So, two FYI for you guys. You may be required to take a test to prove your skills before being able to publish a new Gig.

You may be required to take a test to prove your skills before being able to publish a new Gig.

That other site we don’t talk about has recently announced they’ll be retiring the entire testing system after running it for years and years because it doesn’t provide an accurate skills evaluation (not to mention some questions are very odd/semi-related/irrelevant). I’m not sure why fiverr is doubling down on this. 😕

[catwriter]

Honestly, this sounds like a pretty good idea to me but is the test really 40 minutes long?

is the test really 40 minutes long?

No. 40 minutes is the maximum time you have to finish it; I did that English test in 5 minutes.

[vickiespencer]

I wonder if there is a test for English speaking skills and one for English conventions (spelling, grammar, punctuation, and so on) skills that would be needed to be a writer?

[eoinfinnegan]

I wonder if there is a test for English speaking skills and one for English conventions (spelling, grammar, punctuation, and so on) skills that would be needed to be a writer?

I wonder if there is a test for English speaking skills and one for English conventions (spelling, grammar, punctuation, and so on) skills that would be needed to be a writer?

I’d imagine that this is the reason why that other site

recently announced they’ll be retiring the entire testing system after running it for years and years because it doesn’t provide an accurate skills evaluation

It’s one thing to know what a cat or dog is, quite another thing to know about their/there/they’re upkeep and another thing still to write an engaging piece about it. The tests cover a bit of the first, a little of the second but have no effect on the third piece, so what is the point.

[catwriter]

I wonder if there is a test for English speaking skills and one for English conventions (spelling, grammar, punctuation, and so on) skills that would be needed to be a writer?

I think that Basic English test is the only one that sellers have to pass if they want to offer writing services. There’s a bunch of other tests (spelling, grammar, copywriting, fiction writing, website content writing), and while it’s useful to know some stuff covered by them (like copyright, for example), there are also questions covering Microsoft Word features that are rarely needed (not to mention that some of us use LibreOffice Writer), or other things that aren’t really necessary to know in one’s specific niche. And there’s no test proving that someone is a capable writer, because it’s not possible to make such a test. On the other hand, I guess that someone who can’t pass Basic English test shouldn’t offer writing services.

I think that the idea of tests on other platforms was to show potential buyers that certain sellers, while new to the platform, have taken the time to do tests, and might be more serious than those who haven’t bothered. The idea is flawed, of course; even then and there, many questioned whether buyers even look at the test results.

[vickiespencer]

Do you really think Fiverr would punish him for attempting to use emoticons in his gig description?

Not a punishment but rather a test. Imagine you wrote an essay then added a smiley face, print it then hand it over for final mark. Would the teacher mark that as proper English?

Imagine you wrote an essay then added a smiley face, print it then hand it over for final mark. Would the teacher mark that as proper English?

I just happen to be a retired English teacher. If my students wanted to add a smiley face at the end of their essay, then I would be fine with that. 😉

[silberma1976]

Honestly, this sounds like a pretty good idea to me but is the test really 40 minutes long?

The english skills one is

[silberma1976]

You may be required to take a test to prove your skills before being able to publish a new Gig.

That other site we don’t talk about has recently announced they’ll be retiring the entire testing system after running it for years and years because it doesn’t provide an accurate skills evaluation (not to mention some questions are very odd/semi-related/irrelevant). I’m not sure why fiverr is doubling down on this. 😕

I agree with you on that. I saw that unmentionable sites note about that.

[uk1000]

I think that Basic English test is the only one that sellers have to pass if they want to offer writing services. There’s a bunch of other tests (spelling, grammar, copywriting, fiction writing, website content writing), and while it’s useful to know some stuff covered by them (like copyright, for example), there are also questions covering Microsoft Word features that are rarely needed (not to mention that some of us use LibreOffice Writer), or other things that aren’t really necessary to know in one’s specific niche. And there’s no test proving that someone is a capable writer, because it’s not possible to make such a test. On the other hand, I guess that someone who can’t pass Basic English test shouldn’t offer writing services.

I think that the idea of tests on other platforms was to show potential buyers that certain sellers, while new to the platform, have taken the time to do tests, and might be more serious than those who haven’t bothered. The idea is flawed, of course; even then and there, many questioned whether buyers even look at the test results.

And there’s no test proving that someone is a capable writer, because it’s not possible to make such a test.

I don’t see why it would be impossible, with a well designed test. At least a test could be designed to give a result within a certain confidence level/probability.

[catwriter]

The english skills one is

The english skills one is

It just says on the test that you have 40 minutes for it (it says that on all tests, as far as I’ve seen). It’s far from forbidden to solve it all much faster.

I don’t see why it would be impossible, with a well designed test.

And how would someone design a test that measures someone’s creativity and ability to write a good story or a compelling copy or article?

[catwriter]

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

Even after all of that, it would offer no guarantee to the buyer that that seller would be a good match for their needs, no matter how good their test results are.

[cyaxrex]

You may be required to take a test to prove your skills before being able to publish a new Gig.

That other site we don’t talk about has recently announced they’ll be retiring the entire testing system after running it for years and years because it doesn’t provide an accurate skills evaluation (not to mention some questions are very odd/semi-related/irrelevant). I’m not sure why fiverr is doubling down on this. 😕

That other site we don’t talk about has recently announced they’ll be retiring the entire testing system after running it for years and years because it doesn’t provide an accurate skills evaluation

I’ve read some horror stories about the vetting systems of that other site. A well known Golang (Google programming language) app developer was banned after he didn’t answer PHP (a separate programming language) questions correctly.

You also have pretty much all the tests being easy to find online, coupled with the fact that the same tests are used by all main freelance platforms. You can take a test on you know where, record the questions, research the answers, then take the same test here and come out with top marks, even if you have a brick for a brain.

[uk1000]

Even after all of that, it would offer no guarantee to the buyer that that seller would be a good match for their needs, no matter how good their test results are.

For that they could using something like amazon’s recommendations thing or what similar customers had bought and rated highly. Or it could show them example texts and ask them to rate them according to their preferences (or what they were currently looking for) and maybe it could use that to recommend sellers who could write most like the text most highly rated by the buyer - based on previous tests those sellers had done, or maybe based on their past deliveries.

[cyaxrex]

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

Checking spelling, grammar, readability level, everything else that could be tested

The problem here is that the highest readability scores reflect the lowest end user reading ages. i.e. Getting a high Flesch-Kincaid readability score means using simple words, short sentences, and few passive words. This is not practical for most real-world writing assignments. - Especially anything creative.

It also gets to a point where testing becomes absurd. The biggest problem with buying anything online stems from people having unrealistic expectations. This is the most common problem encountered in the freelance and non-freelance software outsourcing industry.

The ways to make buying safer are easy:

• Let sellers link to their personal blogs and portfolio sites, etc
• Give buyers a popup notification when placing an order, reminding them that they quality of service isn’t guaranteed. Then give them the opportunity to re-read reviews and confirm their order.
• Stop top-down search result manipulation by Fiverr, which makes best selling and average rating search filters completely irrelevant.

I can’t even remember the last time I read a post by a buyer on the forum bemoaning a poor buying experience when the service in question was priced higher than $10.

All making all sellers jump through more hoops does to counter mek-sell problems, is decrease the motivation of normal sellers. Some people will place orders they ate not happy with after delivery. That’s just part of life. Trying to create a Fiverr version of Skynet to police everyone with AI is just silly.

[misscrystal]

I like emoji, but if you want to have a serious business that people take seriously, and present yourself as a mature reliable seller, you won’t try to use them. They are not usually appropriate in a business setting. On the forum I use them because I’m here for enjoyment sometimes.

[uk1000]

Checking spelling, grammar, readability level, everything else that could be tested

The problem here is that the highest readability scores reflect the lowest end user reading ages. i.e. Getting a high Flesch-Kincaid readability score means using simple words, short sentences, and few passive words. This is not practical for most real-world writing assignments. - Especially anything creative.

It also gets to a point where testing becomes absurd. The biggest problem with buying anything online stems from people having unrealistic expectations. This is the most common problem encountered in the freelance and non-freelance software outsourcing industry.

The ways to make buying safer are easy:

• Let sellers link to their personal blogs and portfolio sites, etc
• Give buyers a popup notification when placing an order, reminding them that they quality of service isn’t guaranteed. Then give them the opportunity to re-read reviews and confirm their order.
• Stop top-down search result manipulation by Fiverr, which makes best selling and average rating search filters completely irrelevant.

I can’t even remember the last time I read a post by a buyer on the forum bemoaning a poor buying experience when the service in question was priced higher than $10.

All making all sellers jump through more hoops does to counter mek-sell problems, is decrease the motivation of normal sellers. Some people will place orders they ate not happy with after delivery. That’s just part of life. Trying to create a Fiverr version of Skynet to police everyone with AI is just silly.

I can’t even remember the last time I read a post by a buyer on the forum bemoaning a poor buying experience when the service in question was priced higher than $10.

There’s this post from 9 days ago:

Hello, I bought a seller’s service in May with great reviews on your site. His account is *********** . The gig was a developement of a telegram bot. This person asked me to accept the closing of the job in advance but he cheated me. After many requests of claring attempts he canceled his account and I paid on Fiverr €196. Since the seller was well reviewed I trusted his service, now I asked for a full refund. I was about to buy a new service but at this point I stop until you guarantee me …

and I paid on Fiverr €196

[misscrystal]

Checking spelling, grammar, readability level, everything else that could be tested

The problem here is that the highest readability scores reflect the lowest end user reading ages. i.e. Getting a high Flesch-Kincaid readability score means using simple words, short sentences, and few passive words. This is not practical for most real-world writing assignments. - Especially anything creative.

It also gets to a point where testing becomes absurd. The biggest problem with buying anything online stems from people having unrealistic expectations. This is the most common problem encountered in the freelance and non-freelance software outsourcing industry.

The ways to make buying safer are easy:

• Let sellers link to their personal blogs and portfolio sites, etc
• Give buyers a popup notification when placing an order, reminding them that they quality of service isn’t guaranteed. Then give them the opportunity to re-read reviews and confirm their order.
• Stop top-down search result manipulation by Fiverr, which makes best selling and average rating search filters completely irrelevant.

I can’t even remember the last time I read a post by a buyer on the forum bemoaning a poor buying experience when the service in question was priced higher than $10.

All making all sellers jump through more hoops does to counter mek-sell problems, is decrease the motivation of normal sellers. Some people will place orders they ate not happy with after delivery. That’s just part of life. Trying to create a Fiverr version of Skynet to police everyone with AI is just silly.

The ways to make buying safer are easy:

• Let sellers link to their personal blogs and portfolio sites, etc
• Give buyers a popup notification when placing an order, reminding them that they quality of service isn’t guaranteed. Then give them the opportunity to re-read reviews and confirm their order.
• Stop top-down search result manipulation by Fiverr, which makes best selling and average rating search filters completely irrelevant.

I wish some people would stop making suggestions to fiverr. Next thing, we will see a pop up as suggested here when someone tries to buy a gig warning them to not expect good quality, and suggesting they re-think placing an order.

[lenasemenkova]

That other site we don’t talk about has recently announced they’ll be retiring the entire testing system after running it for years and years because it doesn’t provide an accurate skills evaluation

I’ve read some horror stories about the vetting systems of that other site. A well known Golang (Google programming language) app developer was banned after he didn’t answer PHP (a separate programming language) questions correctly.

You also have pretty much all the tests being easy to find online, coupled with the fact that the same tests are used by all main freelance platforms. You can take a test on you know where, record the questions, research the answers, then take the same test here and come out with top marks, even if you have a brick for a brain.

You also have pretty much all the tests being easy to find online, coupled with the fact that the same tests are used by all main freelance platforms. You can take a test on you know where, record the questions, research the answers, then take the same test here and come out with top marks, even if you have a brick for a brain

They shuffle the questions around from what I know. So you may technically have all the answers available but since there is limited time to answer the question, it’d be difficult to get the right one if you really know nothing about the topic.

My only experience was with the “logo design” test and half of its questions were about CorelDraw. I’m not saying it’s an obsolete software as far as vector graphics go but it’s the least popular and somewhat of a meme at this point. Especially when the client who demands you take the test before even talking to you actually needs the files done in Adobe Illustrator.

Then there were a few odd ones about the overall process and the technique. I don’t think there is necessary a single “right” way to approach the process in the creative field.

It kind of felt like the test was compiled by an alien, in other words.

I’m not against testing and I take IELTS every 2 years but that one is put together and done by an internationally recognized organization and the piece of paper I get at the end actually holds some power.

I don’t know who these particular tests are put together by and why should they top my 10+ years of expertise. And again, I’m not sure creative fields can or should be approached with the “one correct answer” evaluation technique.