Anyone interested in a small tasks job board?

[BikeGuy]

I'm quite new to Bitcoin, and have been hunting around for sources of income.  Looks like the best way, if you don't want to put regular currency in, would be to work for coins.  I would be interested in doing small tasks, but don't think that any of the current job boards are great.  I am a web developer (about 1.5 - 2 years now, not really a noob), and would jump into a new website, but first want to make sure that there is a market, before doing much.  I would appreciate feedback on the ideas below.

Ideas:
A small jobs board, sort of like Amazon's Turk, but with Bitcoins (and possibly other currencies, but Bitcoin to start).

"Tasks" listed, not jobs by each person.  (So, a translation page would contain sub-pages for, say, English to Spanish, English to French, and so on, and each of those could contain the actual quotes and prices for each person interested in the task)

Simple "workers" system, so each worker could submit work, and have work protected (watermarked images perhaps?) before getting payout.

Organized both by jobs and freelancers, so someone who needed a webpage translated or someone good at translating webpages could both post tasks.

The site would be geared towards legal and ethical tasks.  I think there are enough out there, and I don't want to support those tasks.

Posting would be free, I don't know if the site could run on donations, small fees from payouts, advertising, or even the Java miner, but something could work out.

Possible Tasks:
Translation
Grammar checking (for people writing in foreign languages, or getting something translated, etc.)
Page drafting (ex. for websites homepage or FAQs)
Feedback (on websites, printed materials, writing, etc.)

Am I going to get any support from the community?  I don't want to shell out the money for a domain and host, and not have any people come.  Would anyone donate to get us off the ground?  (Not that we are going to accept donations yet, I have no clue if I am going to go through with this or not)

[1715130979]

1715130979

[Brunic]

Like oDesk?

https://www.odesk.com/

I find the concept really interesting, and could apply very well to Bitcoin. There's only one problem though...one MEGA problem.

I've tried oDesk before, and found the concept interesting. The thing is, there's people in poorer country (like Brazil, Indonesia, etc) who offer their services at a really lower price than US/Canadians. I mean, they work at like 3/4$ hour, more than half the minimum wage for the same PHP/translation/whatever job you want to do.

It's an interesting opportunity for those people, but for us, it's really shitty. I'll make double money flipping burgers at the nearest McDonald than doing those jobs. Sure, it's not everybody who wants to deal with people from the other side of the world, but still, it makes a lot of pressure downward for the salary.

Take that into consideration if you want to start your project.

[BikeGuy]

Like oDesk?

Yes, only hopefully a nicer interface...
Actually, I would prefer more of a Turk interface (not that I've used Turk, just browsed the site for a short time).  The automation is the feature I'm going for.  15-30 minute jobs would be a little high for most jobs, in my opinion.  This is just reviewing a non-native speaker's FAQs page, and rewriting it to remove grammatical errors.

It's an interesting opportunity for those people, but for us, it's really shitty. I'll make double money flipping burgers at the nearest McDonald than doing those jobs.

True, but if your just trying to get your first Bitcoin, it might be worth it.  This is for basic jobs.  If you want a great job, there would be other sites out there.  Also, if you consider who would be working, most of us are probably going to be happy with a smaller amount, and hoping the value of a Bitcoin will rise.

Considering all the people who work on bigger jobs on other Bitcoin job sites, I just think that having a system where things are setup with quick forms would be better.  A page translation could be as simple as having the submitter upload an image, and have a worker quickly fill out the translation in a form.  Why make people fill out long emails, if you do this often?  What if you didn't want to email 5 pages to a worker one time, but instead have 10 pages a day go to the next available worker who sees them?

Again, many people would probably use this temporarily, and it wouldn't replace real life jobs.  It would only be a way to gain Bitcoins in spare time (for most people).

[annelions]

Personally, I HATE Turk. It used to be you could make an 'okay' income of a dollar or two a day doing stuff that wasn't too bad. Now? (Last time I looked.) You're lucky to earn a couple pennies for an hour's worth of work. For the kind of money Turk places offer, I can just pool mine. A single computer with a lower-end ATI graphics card can earn ~$0.05-0.07/day, which isn't an awful lot, but it's more than I've been able to earn on Amazon Turk in a long time.

If you could somehow guarantee that tasks would pay out at at least ~$0.50USD/hr., I'd be more interested.

[BikeGuy]

Personally, I HATE Turk.

Well, as I said in my last message, I've never used Turk.  I only saw how automated it looks.

If you could somehow guarantee that tasks would pay out at at least ~$0.50USD/hr., I'd be more interested.

I would assume the money would be more than that, but with bitcoins, I'd take a ridiculous small amount.  Right now, the only options I don't hate are spending 15-30 min trying to get an OK payout on Daily Bitcoins, or mining.  I'm on a PowerPC, so the regular software won't run (and never would run well), and all other options (Python, Java applet, etc.)  would take days for one payout.  Gambling is out, just too annoying to lose, and don't have much to gamble with, and the best option would be working for them, but without much free time, I want small jobs, which is what I propose for the website.

Thanks for giving the quote on Turk.

[quartz92]

Doesn't the "services" section offer something similar to this?

[annelions]

I would assume the money would be more than that, but with bitcoins, I'd take a ridiculous small amount. 

I've seen a couple task sites, similar to Turk, and they all end up with insanely low payout amounts. Since $1USD/day is fairly good wages for places like India, there's always someone willing to work for pennies.

If you really, really want BTC, you could always try posting on http://forbitcoin.com/ or http://bit-coin-trading.com with things you're willing to do.

[BikeGuy]

If you really, really want BTC, you could always try posting on http://forbitcoin.com/ or http://bit-coin-trading.com with things you're willing to do.

These sites have many illegal or unethical things (a million "I will write your school paper for you", etc.), but are quite similar to what I'm suggesting.  I probably will give them a try, but don't expect much.

Well, here's an idea about pricing I'll throw in, so you can whack it around.  Tell me what you think...

What if the site had a system where the workers and jobs each had a set price, with minimums and maximums.
Each worker would have a minimum price they are willing to work for, and the creator of a job sets the max price they will pay.  The higher price they pay, the more workers see the job.  For rush jobs, they will pay more, to give the job to people who are online.

The system of grouping tasks, and then grouping into categories would also allow you to watch certain jobs (say "Data Entry-Handwriting to Text") for the amount you want to be paid, and not personally poll the sites, allowing you to spend more time getting paid, not looking for the next task.

So far I haven't gotten any positive messages.  Is there anyone who would feel like trying a site that didn't make you waste your time finding a job, at least for half a day. or are you set in your opinion of this whole field?

[annelions]

While many of the things may be illegal or immoral, that doesn't mean your posting needs to be.

[BikeGuy]

While many of the things may be illegal or immoral, that doesn't mean your posting needs to be.

I was just explaining a difference between the site and my idea.

[annelions]

I just saw http://bitgigs.com/ and that sounds more like what you're looking for?

[BikeGuy]

I just saw http://bitgigs.com/ and that sounds more like what you're looking for?

Yes, more like what I'm looking for, but my idea would group each task, so each person interested in "English to Spanish Translation" would get a message (or a new column in a table, etc.) if the job had a price the worker was willing to accept.  Also, the way BitGigs is setup, it has an annoying form for offering a service.