| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Fake Blue Board entries Thread poster: Solana Rosa
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Solana Rosa 
Local time: 22:03
English to Spanish
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TOPIC STARTER | Moderators as a team | Jun 22, 2007 |
And a general comment (not related to the case at hand, but nevertheless relevant, I think): when you need to contact a moderator, please contact one at a time. That will save us some time and effort.
Every time I contacted a moderator I was requested to include all of you in my emails. It was explained to me that you act as a team and thus should all be aware of every problem.
| | | | Ana Kardum
Spain
Local time: 02:03
German to Croatian
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| Empty profiles should be periodically deleted | Jun 22, 2007 |
I also noticed strange comments, both from translators and agencies.
1) In my view, proz employees should delete empty profiles after some time as they are useless and reduce the level of professionality of the site.
Not to speak of the difficult mission of checking somebody's identity in that case...that is simply pointlesss.
2) BB entries should also be reviewed from time to time. I find some ratings rather puzzling, especially as I realize that some tr... See more I also noticed strange comments, both from translators and agencies.
1) In my view, proz employees should delete empty profiles after some time as they are useless and reduce the level of professionality of the site.
Not to speak of the difficult mission of checking somebody's identity in that case...that is simply pointlesss.
2) BB entries should also be reviewed from time to time. I find some ratings rather puzzling, especially as I realize that some translators' ratings are not reliable at all. There are fake entries for sure, even if the agency has the overal rating of 5.0, you cannot be sure that it is reliable.
Plus, some agencies get worse (or better) over the period of time and I think that the translators should be encouraged to remove the old entries if their statements are not valid anymore. Especially if they are afraid to post negative comments.
Though, I think that the feature of posting BB entries should be primarily restricted to paying members as this will certainly reduce the amount of such problems.
[Edited at 2007-06-22 16:37] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Yolanda Broad
United States
Local time: 20:03
Member (2000)
French to English
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MODERATOR | Coordinators vs Moderators | Jun 22, 2007 |
There are two separate functions. In addition to moderators, most areas of the ProZ.com Site also have volunteer coordinators who are drawn from the moderators. These people have taken on the additional responsibility of coordinating various aspects of their respective areas. Solana Rosa is correct that the three Jobs *coordinators* do insist that all three of us be copied on *replies* to our messages. This is so we don't wind up duplicating one another's efforts, or, conversely, lose track ... See more There are two separate functions. In addition to moderators, most areas of the ProZ.com Site also have volunteer coordinators who are drawn from the moderators. These people have taken on the additional responsibility of coordinating various aspects of their respective areas. Solana Rosa is correct that the three Jobs *coordinators* do insist that all three of us be copied on *replies* to our messages. This is so we don't wind up duplicating one another's efforts, or, conversely, lose track of an issue that we happen to have specific knowledge of.
Please, however, don't initiate contact with all Jobs *moderators* when you need to have an issue resolved. Instead, look at the list of Jobs moderators and select someone who happens to be online at the moment: the list does show who is and who isn't on line. If the person you select needs to consult other Jobs moderators, or the coordinators, about your issue, rest assured that will be done. 
Solana Rosa wrote:
And a general comment (not related to the case at hand, but nevertheless relevant, I think): when you need to contact a moderator, please contact one at a time. That will save us some time and effort.
Every time I contacted a moderator I was requested to include all of you in my emails. It was explained to me that you act as a team and thus should all be aware of every problem. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | let's not become too restricitve | Jun 22, 2007 |
I can understand why some colleagues in this thread think everybody without a verified ID or with a free membership or with an almost empty profile should be removed from this site or should not be allowed to this or that activity.
But I do not agree.
I think a nice thing about Proz.com is that you can contribute and be an active member but you do not have to. A lot of people/companies are just present to keep lose contact. So why should they not be allowed to do this?<... See more I can understand why some colleagues in this thread think everybody without a verified ID or with a free membership or with an almost empty profile should be removed from this site or should not be allowed to this or that activity.
But I do not agree.
I think a nice thing about Proz.com is that you can contribute and be an active member but you do not have to. A lot of people/companies are just present to keep lose contact. So why should they not be allowed to do this?
Whenever I read BB entries I see at first sight whether someone is a paying member and it does not take much to check if the person's/agency's ID has been verified. But I would never take the BB as an absolute proof for a company's reliability. If I wish to learn more, I can always do some research. I can contact other translators about their experiences and I think it would not be wise to ban translators from the BB just because they don't care to have their ID verified or pay for a membership, because Proz.com is not that important for them. They can still be of great value for the community.
And as for improving quality of BB comments: If people set up fraud companies to cheat on translators, why should they not set up complete profiles. And a verified ID does not guarantee payment, quality of work or honesty.
If we know for sure something is wrong we can always contact a moderator to have it corrected, but we should not leave our common sense at home when trying to find out if a new business partner is a good business partner. Looking at the BB can only be one step of many. And I prefer to have comments from people I don't know and who have not been verified but whom I can still contact over having no comments at all. ▲ Collapse
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Steven Capsuto
United States
Local time: 20:03
Member (2004)
Spanish to English
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| Reliability of Blue Board entries | Jun 23, 2007 |
I'm a freelancer, and I often use Blue Board to decide whether to trust an outsourcer. And I've always worked on the assumption that some of the entries are bous.
I mostly look at ratings from translators who've been members for more than a year and have a relatively high number of KudoZ and BrowniZ points. I also read the negative entries carefully to see the specifics involved.
| | | | Akoma
English to Russian
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| I cannot agree more with Claudia Krysztofiak | Jun 23, 2007 |
Claudia Krysztofiak wrote:
...But I would never take the BB as an absolute proof for a company's reliability. ...we should not leave our common sense at home when trying to find out if a new business partner is a good business partner.
Absolutely. I think that placing more rigid restrictions on BB entries will in fact make BB a much poorer source of information. Suppose I, a translator with an empty Prozian profile and no membership, got swindled by a dishonest customer -- who is to benefit if I cannot make it known (within the limits of BB) to the international professional community?
And speaking about common sense, just one example: I recently got a job offer from a Russian outsourcer who has several BB entries, all "fives," all from apparently non-fake members. You know what? Not only did he insist on paying me by a method which is patently illegal (although, to be honest, fairly common) in Russia, but also wanted to me to accept one of those ignominous clauses such as "all editing costs shall be deducted from the translator's fee."
All "fives," all from apparently non-fake members!
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