emmaki

You and @anniejenkinson are both doing an incredible job of bringing your professional perspectives to the forum. I think it's amazing that Fiverr is attracting this level of talent to the platform. But it's absolutely dismaying to see the complete lack of response from Fiverr to posts like this (I know it's the weekend, I'm talking more generally). Step up YOUR game Fiverr. If you want top talent, don't put them in the same basket as the sellers you are trying to eliminate with this update! Nobody has an issue with metrics if they are done right and with REAL openness and transparency. We all have an issue with how horribly the company has handled and continues to handle this botched product release.

Honestly, I don't think sellers should be offended if a buyer asks, but I can appreciate that it's a very touchy subject for both sides. I'm not particularly precious about whether someone thinks my writing is AI or not (I would think the difference was patently obvious), but I can definitely see other people being offended by questioning whether something they took hours/days/weeks to create was popped of in a minute by a computer. Fiverr's inane AI policy puts buyers in this awkwardly semi-combative position. Sellers who do work that could now be feasibly done by generative AI should be prepared for questions if they don't outright make a disclosure on their gig or in their FAQs. I've been asked a few times and I've simply explained how I use AI (research, outlining and "pre-production" work, but not the actual content, since the writing is typically awful and requires major editing). With serious buyers, this often leads into an interesting discussion on how they feel about AI. For the most part, they aren't against AI - they just don't want it for whatever thing they contact me about. And more often than not, they are completely happy for me to use my AI tools for research etc since it means they get a faster delivery in the end. Still, many buyers aren't aware of this policy and there are hundreds, of not thousands of shady sellers banking on buyer ignorance to profit. Fiverr should be requiring transparency from its sellers here. It's certainly the way that regulations are going. Fiverr and transparency though... *sucks teeth*. tl;dr: most people are completely reasonable about AI usage if you take the time to explain your use of it.

OpenAI has a new AI video thing coming out soon, and it's pretty darn impressive. Remember kids, Fiverr is OK with you NOT telling your buyers that you use AI to do your work unless they ask 🙂 And with quality like this, the vast majority of people aren't going to ask. This is not available to the public yet, but I imagine it will be soon along with GPT 5. https://openai.com/sora (multiple video examples) You'll probably come a cropper when it comes to revisions, but take heart: according to Fiverr CS, if buyers just ask for revisions, your "conflict score" will shoot right up and then your order might get cancelled anyway because revisions are bad, mmm-kay? Source: So, Fiverr, do you have any plans to revisit your AI transparency policies this year? Or are they just going to continue to be anti-consumer?

Now, if Fiverr's artistic community would like to follow the fine example of cartoonists in times gone past...?

Or how about this delightful cartoon from Thomas Nash? (How little things change...) ChatGPT: I am now going to do some work on my own projects that will help me to shift my focus away from Fiverr eventually. What a marvellous update this is, eh Fiverr?

This is a cartoon from 19th century France. The chap with the pear-shaped head and the conveyer belt coming out of his mouth is Louis-Phillipe, one of the (not very good) kings of France in the restoration years of the early 19th century (i.e. between the Napoleons). For some reason, I keep thinking of it as I think of Fiverr. Anyway, here's what ChatGPT has to say about this particular illustration: I think the parallels are fairly obvious. Daumier FTW!

It's a shame that people are taking the time to write their stories and nobody is listening. But then again, nothing will be done. Look at how you trample people underfoot in your greedy quest for profits, Fiverr. You should be ashamed of yourself. I know that's not possible as insentient corporate blob, but even so. At the very least, heads should be rolling for the gross incompetence displayed during this rollout. But that's not going to happen, is it? Why should it happen? What does Fiverr know about accountability? Only disposable sellers heads will roll as the machine makes more profits and belches out a thick cloud of black smoke lies about transparency. In a little over two weeks, Fiverr will be celebrating how its Q4 results, and all of this will be swept under the carpet. That's the only thing Fiverr cares about. It is wholly transparent. Mind you, I suppose it is the weekend. For anyone who isn't a Fiverr seller that is. We're not allowed weekends, at least not if we care about our gamified stats that can and do pull us away from the things that really matter, in order to feed Fiverr's lust for profits. It's OK, I'm not expecting this point to be addressed. I just felt like waking up with a thundering sermon.

I wouldn't call it gentle nudging myself... But yes, it's interesting how these changes impact the dynamic between buyer and seller as well. So many of Fiverr's big changes are specifically to squeeze bad sellers out of the marketplace, but it's done with no nuance at all. Perhaps Fiverr wants to turn the platform into a real life hunger games? 🤔

Yeah, about that, there was massive outrage when they went from thumbs up review system to the star system, massive outrage when they attached the level system to metrics, mass outrage last Sept when they did the cancellations stuff.... ...The fire always burns out, and Fiverr gets to do what it wants. All they have to do is send a few sacrificial lambs out to deal with mob and wait for time to take care of the rest. What's actually needed is for sellers to down tools for a month or two. All of them. But that is never going to happen, so this will. They'll write books about this one day, how the internet and AI wiped out an entire century and a half of progress for worker's rights. And some of those books will note just how docile the workers were during this transition, buffeted as they were by the insidious nature of late-stage capitalism in its dying throes. But for now, we'll just have to glumly be a part of that history.

Oh, I don't know. I could probably squeeze another 100k words of outrage about this on demand.

Nothing is set in stone. It's a live test and we are the rats lost in the maze...

Is this a permanent non-participation or a temporary one? Or do they stay in the old (current) levels system? What exactly does it mean for a seller who is not able to participate in the levels system. Is it effectively the same as being unapproved as a seller and only being able to buy? And, while I don't expect you to answer this next question, how does Fiverr plan to deal with the inevitable false positives that the algorithm will flag, causing sellers to be exiled from the levels system? Will there be any appeals system in place at all through T&S or some other mechanism?

The muse struck again.

Take your sensible advice away from me! I'm moaning, for God's sake!

Bold of you to assume they'll be checking...

It all reminds me of the upset last January (I think?) when that historical feedback manipulation mass account badword happened to what, over 1,000 Bangladeshi sellers? I sometimes wonder how many of them were able to claw back their account due to false positives. I know a couple did... I'm not really expecting any update on this. So I just won't ever have a vacation in my life ever again. Thanks, Fiverr!

I was struck by the muse again. I give myself 5 stars, 10 success score, and 5 values for moneys. I note that Fiverr's many artists are not joining in this thread. I understand: you are all intimidated by exquisite level of graphic design skills.

I was doing really well on UW before I started doing really well on Fiverr. You're right, the platform is great for est. sellers. But Fiverr sucked all my time up so the profile is there, looking good in terms of reviews and all that, but largely abandoned. And ugh, the job list there, never mind the connects. I do look every so often but then decide I don't want to bother. One freelance platform annoyance at a time is enough. Anyway, all the big successful sellers got BIG MAD there when their rates were increased from 5% to 10%. Many of them threatened to take them all off-platform using the mechanism provided, but I don't know how many actually followed through. It's actually quite fascinating how the two biggest platforms are hostile to their top sellers, but I think it's clear to everyone reading this where the money actually is in terms of volume and cashflow and whatever. Apparently so. Nobody from Fiverr has come to confirm/deny yet...

1) As far as Fiverr is concerned, they have given us valid information. 2) This information will probably be tweaked in the coming weeks 3) You need to badger CS about that until they give you a response. But bear in mind that right now, potentially tens of thousands of sellers are doing the same thing. Blame AI for false positives and Fiverr for its overreliance on AI systems, whatever you like, but it won't change the fact that CS is overrun and unable to do much except plod through tickets as best they can. This is not their fault: it is Fiverr management's fault. 4) Other platforms are just as bad, take of the rose-colored spectacles. So UW only charges 10% per the "demands of freelancers"? That's nice, but they're raking in cash left right and center with connects. It's all a numbers game... Check out the UW forum or subreddit. You'll see that many freelancers there will disagree with your assertion that Fiverr is the only platform to treat its sellers like disposable waste paper.

You're not wrong, but they're not going to change. This is the future of all big business on the internet. AI copypasta and user-unfriendly upgrades. Even the latest Google updates make it hard for non-corps to get visibility in SERPs. It doesn't matter whether man cares or not, the machines are taking over in the name of profits.

Don't forget their CS is understaffed and overrun at the moment.

Nothing's going to happen and this will go ahead as-is with minor tweaks to reflect "listening to the community". Those tweaks (if any) will mostly be to appease very minor things. It's nice they let us shout for pages and pages about it though. Freedom of speech ftw! Source: been on Fiverr since 2013.

Oh Lord, I can't imagine. Well, I can. Did you ever take your little darlings on a road trip to the United States, only for the extremely stroppy, petulant 16-year-old to asset their independence by storming out of the car after a completely trivial argument into a dangerous park in the middle of LA? And then consequentially have to chase after them, screaming very white-ly and English-ly for your daughter amongst a bunch of quite friendly and bemused people who all looked like vicious gang members? And eventually find your little darling sobbing their heart out to a kindly old lady in the dead center of this incredibly dangerous part of LA? And then return to the car to a parking ticket for "holding up the traffic"? Surprisingly, there were no more road trips after that. It probably doesn't help that said teenager loudly complained about how r-cist their parents were being claiming that the nice park with friendly people was dangerous, because at least they UNDERSTOOD ME! Not that I did this. I was a wonderful teenager. A baby couldn't do this either. You can strap them in so all they can do is wriggle and scream a lot (sounds a lot like Fiverr sellers at the moment!).

Babies make up for it by being cute and gurgly, though. Although babies are not exactly the best choice for a roadtrip buddy either...

Inspired by learning that the Resolution Center is full of bears, lions, and poisonous snakes and should be avoided by everyone except the Holy Spirit of St. Steven of Irwin, I thought it was time for us to all draw our feelings. Research shows that art therapy is a very effective medium for letting the bad feels out and the good feels back in. Since this is Fiverr, I'm not going to bother citing my sources (just following our fearless leaders' example). Instead, I made this beautiful piece in Canva which I am very proud of.