QBC Announcement

Hey, everyone. As most know, the problems with QBC have escalated to a pretty severe level. @Kadauchi is actively working on a replacement/improvement/port....not entirely sure what to call it at the moment. Please direct people having issues with QBC to this thread. He will make an announcement in the next week or so HERE. Please limit your questions here until he's ready to start answering them. However, if anyone has any thoughtful features they'd like to see implemented in the new program, please place them here and I'll add them to the list. He was going to hold off a bit longer until it's closer to being ready, but with the increase of complaints on the daily and in the help section, we thought we'd at least put everyone's mind at ease that a solution is being worked on. Thank you.

 

Thanks for bringing attention to this, looking forward to the update and I hope Chris is doing ok.

I'd like to see this feature added

Set how many attempts a TV Watcher panda tries
The default is 30 attempts before it stops but it will stop at 15 or 10 if more than one panda is active. I want to set it higher because sometimes low paying pandas will run and then a higher paying panda I want to catch will stop at 15 or 10 instead of 30. And there are also some less desirable pandas that I only want to attempt 10 tries instead of a full 30.

 

This was always a huge downside of QBC. 10-15, even 30 is simply not enough to catch some hits from the scraper. It should always have been customizable from either (seconds) and/or (amount of tries). Sometimes it take 60+ attempts to catch a hit nowadays.

I also suggest a weight system based on pay. So if pay -> $20/h then give that a higher weight, as in attempt more when multiple pandas are going at once. $40/h then give it even more weight, like 100 will prioritize that way more. A weight of 5 or so when there are hits that pay under $10/h (all based on reviews) could be given an attempt every 5 attempts on something that pays over 30-40 or so. If you know what I mean?

 

1. Functionality without TV when TV goes haywire.
2. Sticky a HIT / line in the scraper.
3. Block for keywords.
4. A reset feature to a default setting for any fields that allow you to customize it's parameters. Would save a bunch of threads from being created.

 

Silly little (maybe not feasible? maybe long-term?) feature request from me: remove whatever check blocks QBC from installing on ARM systems. In all my tinkering a few months ago, it seems like QBC's programs will actually work with Windows 11's built-in x64 emulation, but the installer refuses to run on anything but x64, so there's no chance at trying out a clean/full install.

I'm glad to see that Kadauchi has picked up the QBC mantle. It's been such a shame to see it get abandoned.

 

Awesome news because I am pulling my hair out with QBC. Being on a fixed income it isn't exactly a winner if it's not working for me.

 

I temporarily let my subscription lapse for a month, than resubscribed by paypal for $19.99 a month about a week ago. I keep getting it won`t boot message. installed and re-installed a few times. any info?

 

Thanks for the feature recommendations, everyone. I added them all to the list.

Not sure how helpful I'm going to be, but I can try. I know a lot of people are having these issues and I think most are just having to do a bunch of trial and error steps to try to get it to work.

I would first say to uninstall everything, which you both have probably done. Just make sure everything is gone before installing again.

Assuming you're using https://turkerview.com/admin/qbc/docs/?page=install for the install link.

There are a couple old links that "might" be helpful if that doesn't work.

One is an update link (if someone else has a more current one handy, this might be more helpful) https://forum.turkerview.com/live/q-update-83.exe

One is a rollback link https://forum.turkerview.com/live/q-update.exe

I did find an old post in the QBC test forum from a couple years ago where CT posted that q-update.exe link above and then said to go to C:/program files/queuebicle and run the welcome app, but I'm not entirely sure about that either (see next post for screenshot).

Not completely sure those will help.

I know with some specific issues, it's been helpful to go to the C:/users/USERNAME/Queuebicle and delete the /worker/ folder.
If none of those solutions work, I really don't know how to fix this. I'll ask around and if I come up with any other solutions, I'll post them. Unfortunately, the only person with the real answer hasn't been available for a while, hence the need for a fix.

 

Sorry, should have added this screenshot.


You could also try using that unins000.exe to make sure it's fully uninstalled before trying to install again instead of using Windows. Not sure how helpful these options would be, but worth a try.

 

Thank you so much for the suggestions! I finally got my QBC to stop throwing the error I was experiencing by clearing my browser's cookies/cache, logging into Amazon and MTurk separately, restarting my computer, and reopening QBC (which immediately gave me the same "QBC accidentally triggered Amazon's automated login" pop-up I was getting before). I then let QBC sit open on my computer and periodically, about once an hour, I clicked on the "Refresh Login" button on the QBC settings tab. After about 6 attempts, QBC was finally able to connect to Amazon and work properly. Now I'm anxious about shutting down the QBC software, so I just leave it open at all times and just turn it off or put it into sleep mode when not in use. Not ideal, but better than non-functional.

@WillowWolf, is there any way that those of us who are longtime QBC users can be added to the access list of the private test forums? I've been subscribed continuously since mid-2020 but my forum account was never added to any of the QBC-related forums, and it would be really helpful to have access to threads with troubleshooting and advice. Thank you for considering it!

 

@WillowWolf, is there any way that those of us who are longtime QBC users can be added to the access list of the private test forums? I've been subscribed continuously since mid-2020 but my forum account was never added to any of the QBC-related forums, and it would be really helpful to have access to threads with troubleshooting and advice. Thank you for considering it![/QUOTE]

Aye samesies I've been here a while

 

I think CT is the only one who can add anyone to that forum, but it's not actively used anymore. I only mentioned it to stress that some of those suggestions were quite old, so no guarantee anything will actually help anyone's current problems. Concerns haven't really been acknowledged in there since March 2022, so no one is missing out on current or relevant helpful information. Most activity was from years ago before QBC was offered to the public. I would think that there will be some outlet for people for troubleshooting when the new program is launched, but that will be up to Kadauchi where he wants to host that (if he chooses to do so).

 

Will keep a close eye on this thread moving forward. I hope that Chris is well, I have to say @Kadauchi you're a baaaad man for picking up the mantle!

 

@Kadauchi better come through. Lots of hope riding on you man as I am not able to run QBC at all and being that it just costs me money, I cancelled my subscription.

 

Yes, I've been around for a while and would love this as well

 

@WillowWolf, I just thought of a feature I'd love to see implemented: the ability to set task tabs/windows to dark mode. I'm able to achieve this on the MTurk website by using the Dark Reader extension in Chrome, and it's an absolute lifesaver for my eyes. If there's any way that @Kadauchi can get the updated software to allow us to work on tasks (particularly surveys) in dark mode - even a simple color inversion script in lieu of a "true" dark mode if that's too problematic - it would be hugely appreciated!

 

Dark mode is definitely on the list lol. Do you use the dark mode included in QBC at all or do you not like how it looks? I only ask because I don't necessary love QBC's dark mode, but I do really like the dark mode Kada has included with MTS for use on mturk. Just wondering if people like QBC's current dark mode or if they prefer the way dark mode looks on mturk using MTS more.

 

I use QBC's native dark mode inside the software (Settings > Dark Theme), but I'd love dark mode for the tasks themselves. Meaning, when we open a task tab within the workspace, we can opt to have it load in dark mode rather than the default white background with black text. This works awesomely well with Dark Reader in Chrome, but I haven't found a way to force a dark mode for the workspace task tabs in QBC.

 

Can't explain how happy I am to see this thread. Turking hasn't been the same w/o QBC and for some odd reason, I held onto mine with the hopes that it would be saved. Of course, above all, I hope that CT and his family are okay. That man held us down through hell and put in long days of work so I figure it must be serious for this to happen as it did. However, after going through a flood and grinding a lot of different platforms to play catchup, it really sucked to not have QBC during the hardest of times.

Massive thanks for the thread and for keeping hope alive @WillowWolf and also to @Kadauchi for what you're doing.