is narrating an academic proposal techincally against the ToS?

[gwyneth_galvin]

I really don't understand based on this section of the ToS:

Quote

 

First things first - as a seller, please always refrain from offering any academic work. Doing someone else’s academic work or homework, which is most likely to be submitted as the student’s own work, is unethical as it is a direct violation of most schools’ Honor Codes. Furthermore, it may constitute copyright infringement. Fiverr does not allow this, and other fraudulent activities, and it is not permitted on our platform. For more information visit Fiverr’s Community Standards. 

The Dos

• Be sure to contact Customer Support if a buyer requests any form of academic services or homework services from you.
• Always inform the buyer that the requested service is strictly prohibited on Fiverr.
• Instead, offer the buyer an alternative service. This can range from online tutoring for the specific subject to proofreading the completed work.

The Don’ts

• Do not offer academic-related services. This includes but is not limited to: 
  • Homework
  • Academic papers
  • Bibliographies
• Do not offer academic institution application services. This includes but is not limited to:
  • Writing and completing college applications
  • Writing letters of recommendation

If you violate these guidelines and offer academic services, it could lead to your account being disabled.

 

So where does a narration of someone's proposal come in? I wouldn't be writing anything for them. I wouldn't be offering any advice or doing any "work" on their behalf. I would just be narrating their proposal.

I have a feeling the client isn't going to want to work with me any way because it will be extremely expensive to have me narrate tens of thousands of words. But I'd like to know one way or another so that I can let them know.

Any ideas?

[donnovan86]

56 minutes ago, gwyneth_galvin said:

Any ideas?

When you enter a gray area and you're not really sure what to do, the best thing is to walk away. I would recommend doing that. Whatever they are offering you money-wise, it's not worth it if there's even the slightest chance that you might lose your account. That's my opinion. It's still academic content, whether you wrote it or narrate it.. so.. 

[gwyneth_galvin]

Just now, donnovan86 said:

When you enter a gray area and you're not really sure what to do, the best thing is to walk away.

You're absolutely right and that's what I've ended up doing. I guess I just wish the ToS was a little clearer or gave some more concrete examples. There are so many different kinds of gigs in Fiverr and I feel like some of them could be academic adjascent while still being done in good faith.

I'm not personally one to risk it but at any rate, it would be nice to have a clearer picture.

[sabinespoems]

You can also always contact CS whenever a job arrives that is in the grey area. Then if they say no, you have your answer. But if they say yes, then you always have their word to fall back on!

[donnovan86]

1 hour ago, gwyneth_galvin said:

I'm not personally one to risk it but at any rate, it would be nice to have a clearer picture.

Well it is pretty clear, if you think about it. Anything that's academic in nature is a no-go. As I said, whenever I see anything even remotely academic, I tell the customer I can't help. 

[donnovan86]

2 minutes ago, sabinespoems said:

But if they say yes, then you always have their word to fall back on!

Pretty sure you can still get banned anyway. Why risk it? Generally if it sounds even remotely academic it's better to just push it away and wait for other inquiries. No order is worth losing your account over....

[sabinespoems]

44 minutes ago, donnovan86 said:

Pretty sure you can still get banned anyway.

The interactions I've had/seen with CS does reveal they're not always on the same page so you're certainly making a point. But I mean if you've never agreed to anything yet, it never hurts to ask about CS' view on it. Especially in this case, because in the Community Standards it clearly refers to 'the writing of' academic work. Since the writing was already done and it's a VO, I understand the grey area. 

44 minutes ago, donnovan86 said:

No order is worth losing your account over....

But this is definitely true! I was more referring to just getting some insights of CS to understand their view on it and perhaps make the area a little less grey. 

[spaintranslator]

4 hours ago, donnovan86 said:

When you enter a gray area and you're not really sure what to do, the best thing is to walk away. I would recommend doing that. Whatever they are offering you money-wise, it's not worth it if there's even the slightest chance that you might lose your account. That's my opinion. It's still academic content, whether you wrote it or narrate it.. so.. 

I agree!

[donnovan86]

5 hours ago, sabinespoems said:

But I mean if you've never agreed to anything yet, it never hurts to ask about CS' view on it.

Well, that means spending time talking with them, time that could be used working on other stuff and making money. Again, my opinion.

Honestly I just ignore things that are in gray areas for a very good reason. I got banned a few years ago, months after losing my TRS status. Why? Well, a dude ended up splitting a 15k word rewrite into I think 6 orders, I was doing one at a time, but for some reason he most likely went to customer support and said I didn't deliver the work (which I did, I delivered 3 orders out of 6 when I got banned, he split it himself in multiple orders), and after that I got banned. 

I never did anything else wrong, so I know for a fact that's what happened. CS didn't say anytyhing about the issue, and all I was told was to wait to withdraw my money. In 3 days, around 1 AM they ended up sending a message where the head of the team apologized saying it was a mistake. Needless to say I was never paid for the orders that I delivered for that person, since whenever you get banned all orders are refunded. I was fortunate to already have a pretty good client base, so I re-send offers to those clients that had pending orders when I was canceled.

The bottom line is, there will always be some gray area and you can really get banned randomly without even knowing why. Since then, I am a lot more careful and anything that feels even remotely outside of the rules, I just ignore. As I said, no order is worth losing your account over. I will add @gwyneth_galvin here too, so she can see why I was so direct with my reply. I have a previous, bad experience similar to this, as you can see. 

[donnovan86]

Speaking of academic content, I just had a new user placing an academic order without my consent. In this case I did have to contact customer support, and they canceled without damaging me. Students these days, trying to pay others to do their work and learn nothing in the proces. Lol.