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It is now possible to "flag" KudoZ answerers
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Thread poster: Enrique

It is now possible to "flag" KudoZ answerers

Saskia Ponzi
Italy
Local time: 03:54
Italian to German
+ ...

When will an OPT-OUT option be developed?

Mar 23, 2009

Giuliana Buscaglione wrote:

hi again,

over a week has passed and I was wondering how things were doing.

So was I!

Özden Arıkan

Germany
Local time: 03:54

Member
English to Turkish

Paranoid or not

Mar 23, 2009

Yaotl Altan wrote:

That smells like paranoia. I don't see the link between real-life cyber-stalking and this useful function.

Yaotl, you have every right to smell paranoia, but you can't expect everyone to accept such a vulnerability, can you? At least the request for an opt-out possibility must be respected.

As Katalin said, this feature could be useful for moderators. After all, moderators pledge to respect the privacy of site users. Even more important than that the identity of all moderators are known to the site staff, including those who use a nickname on the site. But this is not the case for normal users. Remember that Proz.com is a site open to all. It is possible to have a profile without a real identity, even without a real email address. Add to it that the site has a very large number of users. Now, call me paranoid if you like because I do not want people whose identity cannot be known be given the capability of tracking my activities. But I have every right not to want this. Don't you agree?

You may think, who would ever want to stalk anyone or do such stupid things. I have been in the site for seven years now. The longer part of this time spent as a moderator. Trust me when I say I have seen more than one person prepared to spend time and energy for what you, I, and an overwhelming majority of users would call simply sick. But there are such people.

Enrique

Argentina
Local time: 23:54

Member (2006)

SITE STAFF

TOPIC STARTER

The flagging of askers exists since 2005

Mar 23, 2009

Please note that the feature that allows the flagging and filtering of KudoZ askers was launched in the year 2005 and was the subject to a quick poll in September of that year, where 12.9% of the participants stated that they used it.

This feature has been in use since 2005, and what has been added now is the ability to perform the same flagging on answerers.

The feedback received in this thread deserves consideration and it will be taken into account in a new release of these features, to be delivered in the near future.

Regards,
Enrique

Giuliana Buscaglione

Austria
Local time: 03:54

Member (2001)
German to Italian
+ ...

Thanks, then no KudoZ answering

Mar 23, 2009

Hello Enrique,

Enrique wrote:

The feedback received in this thread deserves consideration and it will be taken into account in a new release of these features, to be delivered in the near future.

thank you for the update, very much appreciated!

For now the only quick fix and opting-out solution for those among us, who do not wish to be tracked down is to stop answering KudoZ questions altogether. I am happy there is at least this solution.

Giuliana

Özden Arıkan

Germany
Local time: 03:54

Member
English to Turkish

Flagging/filtering askers vs. tracking answerers

Mar 23, 2009

Hi Enrique,

I know both features you mention. I used flagging until my favorite Kudoz askers stopped participitating and I still use filtering not to see the questions by people who, in my opinion, spoil the professional satisfaction and social fun I get at Kudoz. Of these features, 1) flagging gives the user a way to highlight the askers whose questions she does not want to miss, and 2) filtering gives a way not to see the askers whose questions she does not want to be caught by.

The feature discussed here is a tracking feature, which allows X to get a notification whenever Y posts an answer or reference to a Kudoz question. Like you yourself said at

http://www.proz.com/forum/kudoz/130070-it_is_now_possible_to_flag_kudoz_answerers.html#1078949

Enrique wrote:
It is now possible to "flag" an answerer in your KudoZ dashboard, so that you will receive a notification every time one of your "flagged answerers" posts an answer or a reference comment.

Moreover, that 12.9% vote was not given for this feature, which was supported by 3 people when suggested:
http://www.proz.com/forum/prozcom_suggestions/127144-suggestion_for_improving_kudoz:_flagging_answerers.html

We are still asking about the progress with this tracking feature, because, since Henry said

OK, folks, an option to opt out will be made available.

on March 15, slightly over a week ago, at
http://www.proz.com/forum/kudoz/130070-it_is_now_possible_to_flag_kudoz_answerers-page2.html#1080161

we believe that an option to opt out will be made available.

Best regards,
Özden

[Edited at 2009-03-24 04:07 GMT]

Cilian O'Tuama
Germany
Local time: 03:54

Member
German to English
+ ...

Tracking askers and tracking answerers - two different ball games

Mar 23, 2009

Enrique wrote:

Please note that the feature that allows the flagging and filtering of KudoZ askers was launched in the year 2005 ...

Askers, by definition, are actively looking for assistance and want attention.
So if a potential answerer happens to "like" certain askers and want to "flag" them in order to offer help, he might wish to be informed when they need it.

I think that's legit. Who suffers?

Answerers, on the other hand, want to help the asker, and only the asker. There's no need to inform the world about it (unless they specifically allow it).

Though, as I said somewhere earlier, it is already possible to view everyone's answering activities through their profile. This new "feature" is just a quicker way of obtaining info that is already available. But the word "stalking" came to my mind too.

I don't like the idea
(although I appreciate and respect the intentions of Topic Starter),

Coupla cents,
Cilian

Arnaud HERVE

France
Local time: 03:54
English to French
+ ...

Hostile

Mar 24, 2009

I think there is a possibility of hostile flagging too. Reasons already mentioned by others.

Christel Zipfel

Local time: 03:54

Partial member
Italian to German
+ ...

Excellent idea!

Mar 24, 2009

Giuliana Buscaglione wrote:

thank you for the update, very much appreciated!

For now the only quick fix and opting-out solution for those among us, who do not wish to be tracked down is to stop answering KudoZ questions altogether. I am happy there is at least this solution.

Giuliana

Let's launch a KudoZ answering strike until the opt out option will be effective!

I hope this is not against any rule, at least I didn't find any strike rule mentioned here

anisco

Germany
Local time: 03:54

Member (2003)
English to German
+ ...

Please stop flagging answerers!

Mar 24, 2009

I agree with

Giuliana
Katalin
Saskia
Steffen
Austra
Enza
diana bb
writeaway
özden
texjax
Stéphanie
Attila
gad
Christel
Paul
Cilian
Arnaud...
and all the others...

Please respect our workplace privacy!

Summary for people with little time

The core cons of the flagging feature are:

- it does not respect workplace privacy
- it is prone to abuse (e.g. hostile flagging)
- it reminds of cyber-stalking
- customers could register with ProZ.com and flag translators
- translators do not want to be automatically tracked by someone else without knowing the "tracker"
- can generate enormous quantities of email traffic
- ...

What I expect from my service provider:
Whenever a new feature is released, it is not sufficient to communicate it in a forum. Please communicate new features, changes or releases via email or newsletter to all members and users (200.000 or 300.000?).

By the way, less KudoZ activity would result in less site traffic.

Thank you for removing the flagging feature and respecting our privacy!
A.S.

I apologize for the typos

[Edited at 2009-03-24 23:22 GMT]

Cilian O'Tuama
Germany
Local time: 03:54

Member
German to English
+ ...

Flagging Answerers (not Askers) is the issue here, italaniello! :-)

Mar 24, 2009

italengger wrote:

Please stop tagging answerers (and askers)!

I agree with

Giuliana
...
Attila
...
Cilian
...
and all the others...

italengger, Please don't bring the "flag askers" feature into this discussion. It could get too messy otherwise. Open a new thread. That's a different issue altogether, IMO (as I attempted to explain above).

Ciao,
Cilian

Attila Piróth

France
Local time: 03:54

Member
English to Hungarian
+ ...

Proposed solutions -- what's your choice?

Mar 27, 2009

In his article dating back to April 2005, Confessions of a 'KudoZ point grabber, Mats Wiman writes:

I am sure that "clever" "outsourcers" certainly read KudoZ and trace eventual candidates (if they do not, then their intellectual level is not too high ).

Whether or not Mats is right, this issue is a serious concern for many professionals. Several solutions have been proposed in this thread -- it is time to see which one has the largest support by the community.

Therefore I started a new thread here: http://www.proz.com/forum/kudoz/131377-flagging_kudoz_answers_whats_your_choice.html

Please consider contributing to that thread.

Thanks in advance,
Attila

Tomás Cano Binder, CT

Spain
Local time: 03:54

Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...

Hostile flagging?

Mar 27, 2009

Honestly folks.... Are we going bananas?

Flagging answerers can be a great way to learn from people who really have good information. Please keep the function. If some people have doubts about whether their privacy is compromised, create an additional option to opt-out from the possibility of being flagged. As simple as that!

anisco

Germany
Local time: 03:54

Member (2003)
English to German
+ ...

Respect of privacy is a MUST, it is NOT an option!

Mar 27, 2009

Thanks Attila,

I was not aware of Mats Wilander's article (unfortunately, it is not accessible), but let me say one important thing:

Rebuilding damaged trust (see the Google Analytics, Google Ads/AdSense etc. issues) with the proactive implementation of data protection and privacy policies is a key task that ProZ.com should tackle in the near future. Let's get started!

Nikki Graham

United Kingdom
Local time: 02:54

Member (2003)
Spanish to English

I support opt-in option

Mar 27, 2009

Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:

Flagging answerers can be a great way to learn from people who really have good information.

I agree with this. I doubt very much that I would end up flagging many answerers, but it would be interesting to follow some people's answers in the civil engineering/architecture fields.

However, given that so many people on this site are unaware of all its features, the only fair way of implementing this flagging of answerers, as far as I can see, would be the opt-in option. Otherwise, many people will be blissly unaware that they are being tracked, or that this is even possible, until they perhaps come across abusive behaviour. Misuse of this feature, as of so many others, will undoubtedly occur, but I'm sure the abuser would be repimanded/have privileges of flagging/using KudoZ/the site taken away.

Charlie Bavington

United Kingdom
Local time: 02:54
French to English

Seconded

Mar 27, 2009

Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:

Honestly folks.... Are we going bananas?

I wouldn't even bother with the opt out.
As far as I can tell, this is just automating something that we can all do anyway with a bit of effort. It's not actually new, as such. Just quicker.
Admittedly, if I were running this site, I wouldn't have bothered with this now, but since it is here, it seems ridiculous to burden developers with even more work just to remove what is basically a shortcut.