Every time you make a new request to deep-watch, we create a dedicated task for you. A task can have several states during its life cycle. It makes sense to have deeper understanding on each state.
Validating
After submitted, a task is firstly set to validating state. You need click the validation link in our confirmation mail to move to next state. The purpose of validation is to make sure user is serious on the request, but not playing on input form. If a task does not get validated within 7 days, it will be automatically closed.
Preparation
After validated, task changes to preparation state. That means our engineers are busy programming for you. You need some patience before moving to next state.
However, if your request is made on deep-watch public offers, it will skip preparation state and go to running state directly.
Running
A task turns to running state when preparations are done. You will get a notification mail on that change. By default, task always starts from Earth (free) course. You can change to premium courses after it turns to running state.
A task is charged only when it is in running or paused state, on non-free courses. In addition to course selection, user can control budget by running or suspending a task.
Auto-suspended
There are several reasons for a task to be auto-suspended. Please check this blog for details. If a task stays auto-suspended for over 30 days, it will be automatically closed.
Suspended
You can manually suspend a task if not need it for a while. Furthermore, you can close it if not need it anymore.
Note that for paid courses, the billing cycle terminates immediately when a task is suspended, and there is no refunding on remained (unused) portion. So it may be best practice to suspend a task when it approaches billing cycle end. You can check how many days are left for current billing cycle at task manage page.
A manually suspended task won’t be automatically closed regardless how long it has been there.
Paused
System may temporarily pause a task when it thinks no sense to continue. For example, you have a task that tracks the status of a DHL package, and the result shows package has been delivered, then the task will be paused. You can resume a paused task at any time, but it is recommended to revise trigger conditions before resuming. Otherwise it is likely to be paused again.
The difference between pause and suspend is
- "Pause" is decision by system, while "suspend" is decision by user.
- For paid courses, the billing cycle keeps unterminated even in paused state.Thus user doesn't have to start new cycle to resume.
On the other hand, although both are decisions of system, the difference between pause and auto-suspend is
- "Auto-suspend" is asserted because system thinks user has abandoned task. "Pause" is asserted because system thinks task has achieved its target.
- A paused task won't be automatically closed regardless how long it has been there.
Closed
Once a task is closed, it disappears from your task list and you can’t access it anymore.
Maintenance
In a rare manner, if a running task keeps meeting errors, system may decide to stop task for maintenance. You will get notified by email on start and end of maintenance session. The total maintenance time is logged by system, and used to calculate live rate at end of each billing cycle. For paid courses, if committed live rate is not achieved, the charge of that billing cycle will be refunded to your account. For more details about maintenance, please check this blog.