Well, folks, that was fun... but now Upwork on the Brave browser is on an infinite Cloudflare human-verification loop that's causing the same problem... on Firefox, the Upwork/ Cloudflare captcha box wouldn't even load, but on Brave it loads, I check it, it says verification successful... and then it loops back and does it again.

It's definitely Upwork because I passed Cloudflare's own (exact same) verification page easily, just to see if there was anything they could do about it.

Cloudflare is no stranger to this problem, according to their forums, but I take it they don't have much they can do about it on their end. Web searches say UW has probably over-tightened their security. But when I talk to Support, all they keep parroting is that it's me.

So the wait resumes. Aaargh.

Will say that I'm still enjoying Brave, though. insert half a smile here

    • MariaT

    • Post #54
    • Edited
    • ES

    Kelly_E Well, I submitted a ticket to support. After explaining what was happening to me three times (they kept telling me they felt like I had an error, and me telling them it wasn't an error), I managed to get someone to understand what I was asking them (I'm going to attribute this to my poor English).
    Here's a screenshot of their response.
    I haven't cleared the cache. I would only do so if I absolutely have to. The other points are of no use to me.

      That is exactly the response they gave to me last week. Maybe word for word! (After a runaround of several messages back-and-forth.)

      And like you, most of it doesn’t even apply to me. I did clear my cache, and all that did was mess up a bunch of other stuff.

      Then they finally told me they’re getting the report from many people, starting on the same day—a pretty clear indication that it’s their problem, not ours—yet they’re apparently content to archive the tickets and pretend that users giving up on the conversations means it’s fixed.

      When I can do some basic research on the web and read about the issue, it would be nice if they’d do the same.

        Kelly_E I responded to the message telling them that nothing has worked and that it must be "their" problem.
        I've also read more complaints about it.
        Let's see what they say.

          I too encounter the Cloudflare captcha when I open an RFP.

          Here is a thread from Reddit:

            Ravi That's UNBELIEVABLE—so at the time, about a week ago, when I started a ticket and told them everything about the problem sounded like it was them, not me—at least one of those Redditors says they had put in a ticket a whole week before that!!!

            Why, oh why do they try so hard to make every individual think they're at fault, instead of admitting there's a larger issue on their end and fixing it?

                Kelly_E Why, oh why do they try so hard to make every individual think they're at fault, instead of admitting there's a larger issue on their end and fixing it?

                Because the Upwork management would eat them alive.

                  • Robin

                  • Post #61
                  • Edited
                  • GB

                  Kelly_E Why, oh why do they try so hard to make every individual think they're at fault, instead of admitting there's a larger issue on their end and fixing it?

                  I think Upwork became more and more of a narcissistic organisation in the last few years. Generally speaking though, Customer Support – in particular in the tech world – seems to have gone more and more this way over a decade or so.

                  I couldn't imagine keeping customers if this is how I'd handled support tickets back in the day – back in the old software on-premises days, we'd have lost every customer if we'd have dealt with them this way.

                  There's some combination going on of generational change, shortened attention spans, the switch to cloud, the reliance on platforms, and essentially a forgetting of really good support/service skills. We used to go the extra mile for our customers – always. Now support people barely even put their boots on; issue is chucked straight back over the fence as a method of getting rid.

                  I wouldn't accept it if I hired support people.

                    Upwork has long felt that their platform is indispensable.

                    Recently, more so.

                    • Robin

                    • Post #63
                    • Edited
                    • GB

                    Did you try this step btw Kelly?

                    (Their annoying Cloudflare thing works for me on Brave in Mojave; I still think this is a TLS issue, but a little odd that it initially worked for you in Brave and now does not.)

                        Robin I did attempt to, but the flags page doesn't have exactly that, so I didn't like to go forward.

                        When I look for TLS on the page, all I see is this:

                        And my choices are Default, Enabled, or Disabled. No mention of TLS types/versions... or support...

                          I have the latest. 78.15.

                          MariaT I wasn't really noticing this but it does pop up with this cloud flare thing checking if I am human on searches and writing proposals, it is just a brief thing on my end but I wonder if that is what you are talking about and it is having more trouble verifying you are human (which is weird because I think you are likely more human than me).

                              MariaT I can't believe they're still acting like "it's just you" in your ticket!!

                              After I wrote to CS telling them that being unable to open any pages because Cloudflare gets hung up repeating itself/ last 2 weeks/ is such a big deal that it even has its own Reddit thread (& sent them the link), and HOLLERING that making every individual think they're at fault when they have dozens of reports proving IT'S UPWORK is unconscionable, the last one I got back from them said,

                              "Yes, I have further checked and there is a current issue wherein some clients and freelancers are encountering the same issue.... Please be advised that this is a known issue, and I will be sending you a reply via email as soon as I receive an update from our technical support team."

                              .
                              And as of yesterday, it's working again for me. Cloudflare "verifies" that I'm a human just ONCE and then the page opens.

                              TBH, if it makes it so there's a lot fewer proposals sent to listings, so real people can be heard, I won't mind being "verified" at all. I just mind when it loops and never loads!

                                  Kelly_E I haven't had the blocking problem, but having it appear every two or three jobs I open drives me crazy.
                                  If this at least helps stop bots, I'd put up with it, but I doubt it will.
                                  Do you have the link to the Reddit discussion?

                                      MariaT Click through on @Ravi's image from the Reddit discussion, above—it goes right to it.

                                      ETA: For me it's on every single job listing, not every two or three. But as you say, I'd put up with it if it stops the bots!

                                          25 days later

                                          Kelly_E I haven't been around here and forgot to comment. The CAPTCHA page stopped appearing recently.
                                          Does it still appear to you?

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