Useful Information and Questions About Otto

[Fisherman]

This section of our site is where you would ask and answer questions about Otto. Anything that is useful should be moved here by moderators.

[jacko2a]

Does anyone else worry about all the returns. I return a lot of the Hits that Otto grabs. Or am I just a Worrywort?

[Sweetheart]

I do not worry about the returns. I return a ton of HITs all the time, even before OTTO, and have never had an issue from it.

[smartin]

jacko2a, somehow I never saw this post and I'm not sure how. I wouldn't worry too much about it. There's been days I've returned 3x as much as I've submitted. Return rates don't count against us any longer (once upon a time they did)

[Giskard]

I'm curious about that too. What kind of ratio is everyone getting on completed HITs vs returns? I basically took most of November off so I've really only used Otto twice. Both times it worked well but I was returning HITs on roughly a little less than a 1 to 1 ratio.

That was before the blocking feature was implemented so I imagine that will mitigate that quite a bit. I'm just now getting ready to give it a full go but the tab closing issue sort of bugged me a little so I decided to run Otto on a separate machine with a clean Windows and Chrome install. That raised the problem of being able to easily transfer information from my desktop to the thinkpad that I'm running Otto on. I knew I could use the Windows cloud clipboard but then I figured out that the new mouse that I bought last month included a feature that allows me to use the same mouse for both my desktop and laptop. Essentially, it makes the laptop act like an extension of my desktop and I can copy and paste from one to the other because the cursor moves to the laptop just as it would using it on multiple screens but both machines operate separately so anything I'm running on the desktop won't interfere with Otto and Otto doesn't close tabs on the destop. It's pretty nifty. The mouse is a Logitech MX Master 3 if anyone's interested.

Anyway, with all this rambling, I almost forgot I had a question. I'm curious about how a couple of the features actually work. I think I remember reading that Otto keeps track of a certain number of HITs that it tries to collect. (I think the number was 100) So does that mean that it remembers a HIT that it's already collected and won't attempt collecting that HIT again while it's still on the list that it's generated? Also, when you put an entry into the block list, is it specifically looking for strings associated with requesters or could you put in a string related to a specific HIT. I'm trying to figure out how I can best avoid returns without missing something that I might want.

[kate]

I think it will collect the same Hit again, Giskard.

[Fisherman]

It would collect the hit again after the 100 hit cool down period. The block is just a requester block. After the next update, you'll have individual hit blocking, as well as keyword blocking.

[Giskard]

Awesome Fisherman

Thank you!

[kate]

Quite a few years ago they removed the return percentage information. I'd only seen it used as a qual by a few requesters prior to that. The thing is, I noticed recently that it's back on the list of quals. Whether it's just for statistical information or it can actually be used as an exclusion qual - I don't know.

[jacko2a]

Thanks Giskard and kate. I'm also at 9%. So I guess that's okay.

[Giskard]

Yeah, honestly, I'm sure the returns aren't a problem. Probably the only reason it bugs me is when I look at HIT tracker and see $20 or $30 in returns. Guess I should just stop looking at HIT tracker. lol

[Birdlove]

I was also told by a Vrapi pro that he returns thousands of hits a day and he has no problems at all. So no worries with returning those hits!

[cosmosplat]

I did some digging but didn't see this mentioned, so forgive me if I missed it.

Can I use the "PREs 000" indicator at the top of PC to keep an eye on ALL my PREs? What I'm trying to get to is... if I run PC and Otto, will the indicator on PC show me ALL the PREs I'm getting (even the ones from Otto) or is it showing only the ones that PC is getting?

Thanks in advance. I'm sure a smart person could discern the answer from PC's code, but my coding skills ended with learning BASIC for the Commodore 64 (and a macro or two for Lotus 1-2-3).

[Fisherman]

Yes.

and I learned BASIC on my TRS-80 in junior high school.

[cosmosplat]

Thanks, Fisherman. I never played with a TRS-80... I did have a Timex Sinclair for a while (with the big 16KB add-on).

[PatrickBatman]

Just started using Otto yesterday. I realize holidays is slow. Wondering if it shows a hit i want but doesnt catch it, will it not try that same hit again if it comes back or does it remember it for a day and not try to catch it again. Basically should i panda those? Ive mainly been catching stuff i dont want, have it set anywhere from $1-$2. Whats your setup? im only using Otto right now (PC just for que no pandas, no scraper) to get used to it. Also im guessing it doesnt have hit block right now, just requester.

[Birdlove]

Fisherman

What happens if the hit is not caught a second time? Does it recycle again and again until mturk says there are no more hits?

This new feature coming in the upgrade, Adjustable cool-down period, will this allow us to adjust the 100 hits before retrying again? Like we can adjust it to 50 or 10 or 5?

[Fisherman]

Birdlove yes, you've got it well understood. and yes, that's exactly what the adjustable cool down does.

[Birdlove]

Ok, great!! Looking forward to all these new upgrades!

[PatrickBatman]

Cool thanks waiting for update and new years to be over

[LLcoolJ]

What is the correct search rate for some those using three apps to avoid PRES. I got hitforker, Panda and Otto here.

[smartin]

https://www.ourhitstop.net/page-request-calculator Keep your page request rate at or above .8 for best results. I have Otto at 1.4, Forker at 3 and PC at 1.4

[LLcoolJ]

smartin Thank you. I have adjusted my settings accordingly. I still get PRES Errors on the PANDA. I hope this is nothing to worry about.

[smartin]

It might also be your internet connection that is playing into this. I know I have a major PRE issue almost every day at about 5:30-6:30 but will otherwise go all day without one. I run cable internet and that's the "Prime time" apparently for my neighborhood.

[lightningshark]

I've already asked this question elsewhere but I think I should ask it here.
I love OTTO so much. It's incredible but I am also able to manually collect HITS that fall within my saved OTTO settings that OTTO doesn't seem to see.
I assume OTTO sees my qualifications so I can see how it would prevent HITS from coming through but OTTO not seeing doable HITS has me confused.

Thanks

[Fisherman]

By the way, the cool down period is very necessary. Without it, you'd catch a full queue of just about every hit, nearly instantly upon turning Otto on. You'd end up returning thousands of dollars worth of hits daily.

[lightningshark]

thanks for answering my question! I don't have another scraper running so it sounds like one or both of the other explanations. So the "cool down" period is when OTTO sees a HIT but for some reason can't grab it so it pauses trying to grab it? How long is 100 search periods? Is that 100 cycles of the 800mils I have OTTO set to? LOVE OTTO!!!!

[Fisherman]

Yes, it cycles through, in your case, 80,000mils before it will return to that Hit. A future update will allow you to adjust the cool down period up or down.

[Jimmmac1]

Good morning. I posted a question about OTTO lite yesterday and can't seem to find it.. Is there an easy way to find it so that can post it here? Thanks.

[Fisherman]

This one ?

I just got the video about OTTO lite which was very good. I have a couple of questions though. I run OTTO lite, and MTS Hit Finder, Hit Catcher and Panda Crazy, although I don't use Panda Crazy to search for hits generally, only to watch the queue in case I need to easily return something. I only let Hit Finder and OTTO lite run pretty much all the time. Sometimes in Hit Finder, I find a survey that OTTO didn't find. Then I Once it and it goes into Hit catcher and I let it run. Now even when OTTO is running, I don't see any PRE's showing up in Hit Catcher. If I start searching in Panda Crazy, then I see the PRE's come up in Hit Catcher like crazy. So I will shut down all searches in HIT catcher before running a search in Panda Crazy. I am running OTTO at .9. I saw on the PRE page four things. OTTO search rate, which I got at .9, Panda Crazy search rate, which I put as 0 because i don't run it with anything else and two others, which I am not sure what they mean. These are the scraper hit rate and the additional app rate. For Hit Catcher I have set the speed at .997. My question is should I put this value in either of these two fields?


Please post this in the DHT, I have some tips for you.

[HondaGirl123]

When OTTO brings up hits, how do I grab them and put them in PC or do I click on them and work them from OTTO. Still learning.

[Fisherman]

Which version of Otto are you running ?

[noporpoise]

Do you guys keep OTTO on $1 always? Do you ever go lower than that and if so why?

[Fisherman]

Yes, when it is slower, go lower. I've been keeping him at $0.50 lately.

[noporpoise]

Thanks Fisherman

[noporpoise]

Sorry for another question - is there somewhere that shows the differences between OTTO Lite and OTTO Heavy?

[noporpoise]

Thanks, smartin - yeah, I thought I had saw it somewhere, too, but can't find it now. I was really just curious at the differences between the two.

[ZeldaFoot]

It's mainly the amount of customization you can do. Otto Lite is almost a turn it on and go kind of program. Otto Heavy lets you block hits/requesters, has the PRE braking system, goes into full screen, lets you return hits right from Otto.
One is not better than the other, it's more about personal preference. I personally prefer a more personalized, customized experience with Otto Heavy.
There should be some videos up on the OHS Youtube page that shows set up of each, which might give you a better idea of the differences.

[noporpoise]

ZeldaFoot Awesome! Thank you!

[noporpoise]

Me again ... I'm wondering, does the HEAVY version of OTTO allow you to block a HIT vs. blocking the Requestor? I'm guessing when we block a Requestor it blocks all their HITS, right? Is it better to just block the specific HIT we don't want to catch anymore?

[noporpoise]

You've been so helpful smartin Thank you!

[Fisherman]

Otto Heavy Allows blocking via :

Hit Name
Requester Name
Hit ID
Requester ID
Group ID
Keyword

A block type can also be easily changed at any point without the need to create a new block.

[noporpoise]

Thank you Fisherman I appreciate the info!