Just over 5 years ago, with this tweet – https://twitter.com/CoinWorking/status/161241376669970433 – and this BitcoinTalk post – https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=60769.msg707953#msg707953 – CoinWorker opened to the world.

With this transaction – when one BTC cost just $6.44 - CoinWorker began 5 years of (usually!) clockwork payouts:

https://coinworker.com/txid/4c385734ef889697ac3f4ab0f23493a2e69607df1cb760c09f6a388075222643

Since then, CoinWorker has paid over 5500 BTC to more than 8000 unique addresses around the world.

To celebrate 5 years of Bitcoin for browser-based microtasks, we've got a special treat for all CoinWorkers, old and new.

But 1st, a quick policy update: effective immediately, payouts need a 200 point balance, & will happen twice-daily, at 00:00 & 12:00 GMT.

Now the treat: as thanks & to kick off the NEXT 5 years right, CoinWorker's payouts are now the highest in our history.

If you're a registered CoinWorker, check out these new, limited-time CoinWorker payouts. We think you'll be pleasantly surprised!

https://coinworker.com/tasks

Note that this offer can't last long – at current rates, CoinWorker is losing money on every task!

To all who've worked tasks & helped advance a new Bitcoin economy of innovation, honesty, & diligence: thank you!

{Warge @Geoshington @CoinWorking

Regarding a few old posts:


I don't see any evidence of payout problems for either the Bitcoin address mentioned, or a registered user of this name. Please PM me if you're still having any issues.


Actually, personal contact should never be necessary.

There have been a few cases over the last year where site payouts have become stuck, for a few hours or even a day or two -- but when that happens they're stuck for everyone. After the right systems are kicked everyone gets a catchup payment. (In a couple of cases where the freezeup happened during big exchange-rate moves, I issued the catch-up payments at a discount to the later exchange rate, though I can't guarantee that will always be possible.)

When everything is working, which is most of the time, you'll be paid within an hour after reaching the payout threshold, currently 180 points. That's the same whether you're a new or old user, and whether you're hitting the threshold for the 1st time or the 100th time.

{Warge

If you visit the http://coinworker.com/accounts/profile page, you should see all 'pending' (unpaid) tasks on your account, and entering a new valid address in the form there will reassign them to the new address.

If the tasks don't appear there, they must be associated with another login... and only that other login can reassign them to a new address. So you might have to take that up with your housemate.

Feel free to send a DM with more details (like the Bitcoin addresses involved) if the above doesn't help resolve your situation.

{Warge

Thanks for your report... I'm sorry I didn't see it sooner. I think that for Chrome, a recent auto-update may have been the trigger.

A styling fix was deployed last night, so please let me know if that improves things. (It fixed it in Chrome for me.)

{Warge

rGY92tDZ99yd2BWzJcKFcq4KfqM8mXAxD5

The password-reset functionality is definitely sending the emails. Further, it looks like the last time a reset was requested on your account, a few days ago, a bounce for that email address was received from rmqkr.net. Meanwhile, other messages to rmqkr.net before and since have not bounced, so it's not a general problem with that domain, just the one reset-request.

So I think the problem must be with your mail service. Maybe it was temporary.

Please keep trying and have the rmqkr.net owner check his logs to see what's happening to your password-reset emails. I don't think the problem is at CoinWorker.

Good luck!

{Warge

The email address domain, rmqkr.net, appears to be a 10-minute email service which expires the address after a short period, unless you constantly refresh the session.

I don't see in its interface any option for inbox review of the same address days/weeks later, or for forwarding elsewhere with spam filtering. So maybe the problem is at rmqkr.net, or however you are checking the email.

As a test, I've sent the declared account address an email from another system as a test. Please follow its instructions if you'd like me to continue investigating.

{Warge

It appears to be working. Could the email have landed in a spam folder? (It will come from <no-reply@coinworker.com>.)

{Warge

I'd written:


This function is now live. On the http://coinworker.com/accounts/profile page, just above the list of pending tasks, is a small form for entering a new payment address. All pending tasks will be updated to reflect the new address submitted here.

More helpful changes to the profile page are coming soon.

{Warge

A bunch of people have been affected by this.

I am working on a solution that will allow a logged-in user to reassign finished-but-not-yet-paid work to a new address. This should be available within 12-24 hours. When it is available, details will be findable on your http://coinworker.com/accounts/profile page.

Until then, please don't make your balance reach 180pts or higher - it will trigger a payment to the old address!

Thanks for your patience as we adapt,

{Warge

Hi, viperz007. FYI, your login only has a 166 point balance. An address you've been working for has a 202 point balance - but only because another registered user, with a different username and email address, has also done 36 points of work for this address.

You can always see your true login balance on your personal, private profile page (http://coinworker.com/accounts/profile) -- accessible by clicking your username in the top-right corner of the page while logged-in.

This confusing dual-reporting (both per login and per address) is because all tracking and payment triggers used to be only address-based, but then had to change to login-based after certain patterns of abuse. The interface will be updated to be more clear soon, but in the meantime, the top of the activity-log page for an address worked by multiple accounts will include the note:


You can also DM me if you'd like to discuss in more detail in private.

{Warge

I don't know any reason or bug that would cause a point balance to decrease, other than you being paid. I'll take a closer look if you DM me your CoinWorker login name.


Glad you like it!

These sorts of quality and eligibility issues are completely up to the control of CrowdFlower, the back-end task provider, based on what they think gets them the best quality work. You can give CrowdFlower feedback via the top-right 'Help' drop-down (that also shows a 'contributor id'), use its 'get support' option (which requires extra registration with CrowdFlower).

I remember other users saying that they could eventually retry the kinds of tasks they'd been locked out of... but that maybe after a longer time or more other acceptable work that rehabilitates you in the eyes of CrowdFlower. I can't see any worker's accuracy by task, only a vague overall estimate.

{Warge

Thanks for reporting your concerns. I think the confusion may be due to the fact that the payment trigger must be reached per CoinWorker login account, not per pay-to-address.

My per-login-account reports show SalvorHardin with an 84 point balance, all earned since 2013-Jan-20 03:41 UTC. All prior work was paid  then... there are no older unpaid tasks on that account.

Any later tasks you see paid on the activity page were done by another account though with the same pay-to address. That account's balance hit the trigger, and so all of its tasks were paid, but this had no effect (positive or negative) on the separate SalvorHardin tasks. I will send you more information via a DM.

To give a more complete picture and allay any concerns that older unpaid work is not being shown, the address activity pages will now show the last 200 units. Also, your per-user profile page, accessible while logged-in by clicking the top-right login name link, should always show all unpaid "Tasks Pending Payment", no matter the age or count.

{Warge 

I haven't seen reports of such problems previously, other than occasional brief delays in some reports, which catch up in a matter of hours.

If you DM me your CoinWorker login name or pay-to address, I'll take a closer look in case there's a new error, or something specific with those tasks.

Note that while points are usually credited in within a minute or two, payments only happen once your total reaches the payout threshold (currently 180pts).

{Warge

 

From your screenshot, it seems you reported it through the proper CrowdFlower channels. My impression is that tasks and task-training sometimes have glitches that get worked out over time, with enough reports.

Just keep checking back for when similar and possibly improved tasks appear.

{Warge

Sorry about that. I believe the tasks back-end is using IP address to control task availability.

Is there a chance your internet-provider routes things through Japan? (For example, what does an online service like http://www.maxmind.com/app/locate_my_ip report as your approximate location using IP to guess?)

{Warge

I'm very sorry: some code that was designed to protect against surprise/nonsense exchange rate data backfired when the rate really did get over $12/BTC.

The bug has been corrected and catchup payments sent.

Thanks for your patience and let me know if there are any other questions or concerns.

{Warge

Send me a DM with your CoinWorker login name (it doesn't seem to be 'nimda') and I'll see what I can do, if you're close to the threshold. I'll also be lowering the threshold soon, probably to 100 points, if that will help.

{Warge

One CoinWorker point has always been equivalent to one cent in American dollars (USD$0.01).

If the value of 200 points has gone down from 0.4btc to 0.3 btc... well, that's just a symptom of Bitcoin's appreciation. There's no loss to the CoinWorker from that change: he's getting less BTC but it's worth more.

The point value of tasks has varied, in some cases from task providers, but also because there are issues with bursty high-volume and questionable-quality activity that I'm still struggling to handle in the best possible way. One risk-reducing measure I've taken so far has been adjusting payouts downward. If I come up with better options, payouts will rise. The best I can say in the meantime is that whenever the current payouts are unattractive, check back in another week or two... CoinWorker will still be here, with a different and maybe better mix of tasks and payouts.


In fact it continues to grow slowly and steadily... and other than a few temporary systems/hosting glitches, CoinWorker has paid out in accordance with its published terms, like clockwork, since it opened almost 6 months ago. I'd rather have people temporarily disappointed by the advertised payouts, than ever miss a promised payout.

{Warge

Expired? I'm not familiar with this quality of bitcoin addresses! Will you be losing control of your private key at some specific time?

Please send me your CoinWorker login via DM and I'll see what I can do.

{Warge