Basel Ashraf
← Back to Work

Prolific Tea

Community Researcher Review & Pay Transparency Platform
Role & Team
Creator & Sole Author
Traction
100,000+ Page Views
Index Size
1,582 Researchers Indexed
Stack
Next.js, PostgreSQL, Chrome Ext, PWA

The Transparency Problem in Academic Crowdsourcing

Academic participants on research platforms such as Prolific frequently encounter unfair submission rejections, unpaid wage clawbacks, and unclear study demands with no central reputation record.

Prolific Tea provides participants with a searchable database where they rate researchers on fairness, payment timeliness, and rejection behaviors.

Prolific Tea index: searchable database of researchers with ratings and community reviews.
prolifictea.com The live researcher index: searchable, filterable, and accessible with no registration required.

Full-Stack Architecture & Network Interception

The platform consists of four engineering components:

  • Full-Stack Web Platform: Built on Next.js with server-side rendering, PostgreSQL database, image uploads, and threaded discussion boards.
  • Chrome Extension Network Interceptor: Intercepts study feed network requests, extracts researcher IDs, and overlays historical reputation badges onto the participant dashboard before they accept a task.
  • PWA Push Notifications: Delivers updates for dispute resolutions and community notices.
  • Anti-Abuse Tooling: Custom administrative moderation workflows and rate limiting to prevent coordinated spam while preserving honest feedback.

Community Ethos & Zero-Ad Model

Prolific Tea operates without venture capital, banner ads, paywalls, or tracking scripts. The platform has grown to 100,000+ page views and 1,582 indexed researchers funded by community donations and word-of-mouth adoption across research forums.