My gig was deleted

[katherinekieva]

I received this email from Fiverr this morning notifying me of the reason why they deleted my copyediting gig:

By partaking in doing someone else's academic work (which is likely to be submitted as the student's own work) or engaging in acts of plagiarism/unauthorized copying is a violation of schools’ Honor Codes, and constitutes copyright infringement. This behavior can lead to the suspension or expulsion of students. Fiverr does not allow this type of fraudulent activity, and it is not permitted on our platform. For more information, Please view Fiverr's Community Standards. Learn more about academic dos and don’ts.

I have not yet done any work on Fiverr, for anyone, and I would never participate in such fraudulent activity, so what the heck?? I submitted a support request to have my gig reinstated, but this doesn't bode well for my continuing on Fiverr.

[mariashtelle1]

And what was the services you were providing with your gig? What was the title? 

[katherinekieva]

Copyedting. The title was "copyedit your text to make sure it is free of errors."

[uk1000]

Did it include any words in the description that might have made Fiverr think it was related to student work? eg. essay/academic?

[katherinekieva]

This is the reply I got from Support:

I have checked your account and your Gig "copyedit your text to make sure it is free of errors" and found that it has been created for the purpose of editing dissertations, papers, etc...
 
Due to this, as academic services are not in accordance with our guidelines, your Gig was denied and we will not be able to restore it.
 
However, you are still welcome to create a new Gig that is in line with our guidelines, which you can find in our Community Standards. If you are not sure if a service is allowed, you can reach out to us and we will check it for you.

Copyediting a dissertation for grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc., is NOT doing the author's work for them. It is a legitimate activity that does not violate schools' honor codes.

Can't restore the gig. Guess I'll start a different one.

 

[uk1000]

I think they did say at one time proofreading academic work was okay. But copyediting doesn't seem like it is.

See this:

https://www.fiverr.com/community/standards/prohibited-services

Quote

Homework and academic services

Fiverr’s marketplace is open for sellers to offer any creative and productive service they wish to propose. With that being said we ask to refrain from offering or asking for any academic work. Taking part in doing someone else’s academic work (which will likely be submitted as the student’s own work) or requesting academic work to be done for you, is unethical since it violates most schools’ Honor Codes and may constitute copyright infringement. Fiverr does not allow these types of fraudulent activities and it will not be permitted on our platform.

Do not post, offer, or ask for:

Writing of: Homework, academic papers, bibliography, letters of recommendation, college applications, etc.

I thought they used to have an exception there for proofreading it but it's not there now so I don't know if it would be allowed.

I assume with copyediting it would be doing more writing work than just pointing out errors in proofreading though so maybe they don't allow it because of that.

So if you start a new gig I'd make sure it's nothing to do with academic work to be safe (or if proofreading it I'd make sure you check with Fiverr first before creating a gig).

Edited July 11, 2022 by uk1000

[katherinekieva]

It says "writing of" I'm not writing, I'm editing.

[uk1000]

1 hour ago, katherinekieva said:

I'm not writing, I'm editing.

Ideally they'd be clearer in what's allowed/not allowed so people would know when creating gigs. eg. their rules should say whether copy editing, proofreading of academic work is allowed (not just whether writing it is) - like I think they did with proofreading previously. They may see it as writing in the way of rewriting/rewording some sentences or parts of sentences, even though you're not writing it from scratch.

Though there's a Pro Verified service that offers to edit an academic thesis or dissertation and says they'll do "Copy editing " in the description. So I don't see why that's allowed if your gig wasn't. Maybe you could ask them why they allow Pro gigs that do editing/copy editing and proofreading of academic work.

edit:

See this:

https://www.fiverr.com/support/articles/360020869438-Academic-services-on-Fiverr---The-Dos-and-Donts?segment=seller

Quote

Instead, offer the buyer an alternative service. This can range from online tutoring for the specific subject to proofreading the completed work.

That seems to be saying proofreading the completed academic work would be okay (though I'd still check with Fiverr if you wanted to offer that).

Edited July 11, 2022 by uk1000