Nicole Schnell United States Local time: 18:52 Member English to German + ...
None.
Nov 4, 2009
I don't turn KudoZ into anything personal. I do filter "Not for points" questions, though. Anyone who is not willing to invest time to say "Thanks!" doesn't need to stuff my mailbox.
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jyuan_us United States Local time: 21:52 Member (2005) English to Chinese + ...
I feel bothered to receive so many thanks in my email.
Nov 4, 2009
Nicole Schnell wrote:
I don't turn KudoZ into anything personal. I do filter "Not for points" questions, though. Anyone who is not willing to invest time to say "Thanks!" doesn't need to stuff my mailbox.
And I also feel it a burden to put thanks to everyone who agrees or disagrees with my answer, although I always try to find time to thank them.
[Edited at 2009-11-04 06:04 GMT]
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Nicole Schnell United States Local time: 18:52 Member English to German + ...
@jyuan_us: You can opt out
Nov 4, 2009
"I feel bothered to receive so many thanks in my email."
Peer comments Yes No (Notify me of peer comments to my KudoZ answers)
and check your preference.
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Susanne Bittner Netherlands Local time: 03:52 Member (2006) English to German + ...
Lack of moderator
Nov 4, 2009
I do feel the level of questions & politeness has deteriorated considerably in my main group since it does not have a moderator any more.
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Yasutomo Kanazawa Japan Local time: 11:52 Member (2005) English to Japanese + ...
TOPIC STARTER
They might have a different common sense of their own
Nov 4, 2009
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
Yasutomo Kanazawa wrote:
Regarding your point [b]A) they are not minimally polite with their colleagues[b/] I believe I can interpret in a few different ways, such as 1) using borderline offensive language to attack people or your comments, 2) nitpicking, and 3) don't close the answers, or even if they do, without a word of gratitude nor points using the reason "Other".
I mean mostly that they do not care enough to show some politeness (simple "Hello" and "Thanks in advance" are enough) at the moment of making the question, and of course forget to answer requests for further information or to say thank you when they get what they wanted. They must think it is their right to receive this free help. Not from me...
I agree to what your wrote, Tomas. But I think their logic is different; they think it is their right to receive this help, but not for 'free', since they are awarding you Kudoz points in return. But of course, that doesn't justify their actions, and a simple thank you would solve part of the many issues, since I see other people agreeing to your comments including myself.
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gad United States Local time: 21:52 Member French to English
It depends what is meant by "blacklist"
Nov 6, 2009
I guess I don't have anyone on an official "blacklist", but there is one person in particular and have been others in the past whom I would like to block. This can't be done, apparently. I find this person to be way too uppity, condescending and snide and cannot see the constructive purpose of this person's participation in KudoZ. In fact, he acts as if he OWNS KudoZ. I've never seen this person NOT criticize - while constructive criticism is obviously something that adds to a site, constant criticism accompanied by lack of professional manners and respect for others make this person's criticisms destructive, IMO.
There have been others who are no longer on the site (one even got banned) who engaged in somewhat similar behavior. I wish this individual would do the same. The constant negativity and just inappropriate participation (which may still lies within the site rules, but that doesn't make it right, IMO) have me wondering why this person bothers to stick around. I've seen this person on many threads and it's just constant complaining and criticizing - and I've never seen evidence that this person listens to any opposing views besides, which indicates a complete lack of professional respect for others, as far as I can tell. There's no way to dialogue with this person unless you're commisserating with him or praising him I guess for going on and on ad nauseum about who/what he doesn't like. It's unbelievable.
Most people are nice and helpful, but it takes very few bad apples to spoil the bunch...
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Kim Metzger Mexico Local time: 20:52 German to English + ...
Long live the nitpickers
Nov 6, 2009
Professional translators are supposed to be perfectionists, i.e. people who have a "propensity for being displeased with anything that is not perfect or does not meet high standards." Askers and contributors will never grow as translators if they are sheltered from criticism. Healthy, robust debate is precisely what is needed in KudoZ. Lord knows, there is much to criticize. Cracking down every time someone gets his feelings hurt - the wrong tone, etc. is the wrong way to go and drives away the best and brightest.
People have mentioned politeness in this thread. Askers who repeatedly close questions without telling their helpers what other term they found elsewhere or who refuse to provide a decent amount of context or spend a little of their own time checking dictionaries before posting their questions are impolite. A contributor who doesn't mince words when critiquing colleagues and askers isn't, as long as he refrains from calling them morons, etc. He's helping us all towards that elusive goal of perfectionism.
[Edited at 2009-11-06 18:04 GMT]
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Yasutomo Kanazawa Japan Local time: 11:52 Member (2005) English to Japanese + ...
TOPIC STARTER
That's one of my definitions of blacklisted users
Nov 7, 2009
gad wrote:
I guess I don't have anyone on an official "blacklist", but there is one person in particular and have been others in the past whom I would like to block. This can't be done, apparently. I find this person to be way too uppity, condescending and snide and cannot see the constructive purpose of this person's participation in KudoZ. In fact, he acts as if he OWNS KudoZ. I've never seen this person NOT criticize - while constructive criticism is obviously something that adds to a site, constant criticism accompanied by lack of professional manners and respect for others make this person's criticisms destructive, IMO.
There have been others who are no longer on the site (one even got banned) who engaged in somewhat similar behavior. I wish this individual would do the same. The constant negativity and just inappropriate participation (which may still lies within the site rules, but that doesn't make it right, IMO) have me wondering why this person bothers to stick around. I've seen this person on many threads and it's just constant complaining and criticizing - and I've never seen evidence that this person listens to any opposing views besides, which indicates a complete lack of professional respect for others, as far as I can tell. There's no way to dialogue with this person unless you're commisserating with him or praising him I guess for going on and on ad nauseum about who/what he doesn't like. It's unbelievable.
Most people are nice and helpful, but it takes very few bad apples to spoil the bunch...
My definitions of blacklisted users are:
a) impolite people
b) people lacking gratitude
c) nitpicking and making snide comments with an attitude
d) askers who abandon (i.e.leaving them open forever) questions
e) askers who close questions without giving any explanations unless the answerers ask
I personally don't get irritated about people (same person) asking tons of questions in one day, nor always asking but never answers any.
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Tomás Cano Binder, CT Spain Local time: 03:52 Member (2005) English to Spanish + ...
The roulette
Nov 7, 2009
Yasutomo Kanazawa wrote:
I personally don't get irritated about people (same person) asking tons of questions in one day, nor always asking but never answers any.
In my case, what I find sad is that someone plain lies saying that s/he is able to take care of a job and then has to play the roulette in Kudoz to try to pull the job through, while another better prepared person is sitting at home waiting for a job. Honesty should be a major value in our profession, for the good of all.
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Yasutomo Kanazawa Japan Local time: 11:52 Member (2005) English to Japanese + ...
TOPIC STARTER
It is actually sad, but it's grim reality
Nov 7, 2009
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
Yasutomo Kanazawa wrote:
I personally don't get irritated about people (same person) asking tons of questions in one day, nor always asking but never answers any.
In my case, what I find sad is that someone plain lies saying that s/he is able to take care of a job and then has to play the roulette in Kudoz to try to pull the job through, while another better prepared person is sitting at home waiting for a job. Honesty should be a major value in our profession, for the good of all.
Somebody above wrote that once in a while, one makes a mistake in decision making, i.e. taking a job which is not in one's working field nor speciality. I have made similar mistakes in the past too, so I don't blame them. I don't want to take them in a negative way.
However, there are people, or repeated offenders, and I believe you are talking about people in this category. I think there are various reasons, and one of them is what you mentioned above, relying on people who would help him/her out using the KudoZ system, so no-worry-at-all attitude. The other reason I can come up with has to do with the economic crunch, where translators have to make a living, but have to accept jobs which are not in their working or specializing fields but still need the dough.
Try to think of these repeated offenders as this way: they are good contributors to boosting your KudoZ points. They would keep on boucing back like a ball, and they're offering you great opportunities to learn something new everyday.
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Tomás Cano Binder, CT Spain Local time: 03:52 Member (2005) English to Spanish + ...
Sorry. Duplicated reply.
Nov 7, 2009
--
[Edited at 2009-11-07 06:53 GMT]
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Tomás Cano Binder, CT Spain Local time: 03:52 Member (2005) English to Spanish + ...
Kudoz points don't pay bills
Nov 7, 2009
Yasutomo wrote:
Try to think of these repeated offenders as this way: they are good contributors to boosting your KudoZ points. They would keep on boucing back like a ball, and they're offering you great opportunities to learn something new everyday.
But Kudoz points won't pay our bills in the future. By accepting jobs they cannot do and delivering a mess, they are teaching customers that the quality that can be expectd from an "expensive translator" is not much higher than that of a reasonably tuned automatic translation system.
My worries about Kudoz abusers relate to our future as a profession, not the limited problem of seeing a lost translator trying to fix a particular mess.
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Yasutomo Kanazawa Japan Local time: 11:52 Member (2005) English to Japanese + ...
TOPIC STARTER
Not necessarily
Nov 7, 2009
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
Yasutomo wrote:
Try to think of these repeated offenders as this way: they are good contributors to boosting your KudoZ points. They would keep on boucing back like a ball, and they're offering you great opportunities to learn something new everyday.
But Kudoz points won't pay our bills in the future. By accepting jobs they cannot do and delivering a mess, they are teaching customers that the quality that can be expectd from an "expensive translator" is not much higher than that of a reasonably tuned automatic translation system.
My worries about Kudoz abusers relate to our future as a profession, not the limited problem of seeing a lost translator trying to fix a particular mess.
I agree to your last part; however regarding your title to my reply, I have a different perspective. I've experienced a lot of Eng-Jap translation offers since I started participating in KudoZ from August 2008. As you can see from my profile, I have earned quite a lot of KudoZ points (nothing to brag about), and since then, I have experienced outsourcers and end customers inquiring me about Eng-Jap translation jobs than when I had no KudoZ points at all. I believe my profile was on the 7th or 8th page on the Eng-Jap directory of translators/interpretors, but since now I'm on the first page in that pair, I get projects in that language pair more in different fields than what I used to get in a different language pair. So, in my case, participation at KudoZ has greatly boosted my existence on Proz, bringing me more work, which led to paying my bills.
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Raffaella Panigada Italy Local time: 03:52 Member (2007) English to Italian + ...
My last what-the-heck Kudoz experience...
Nov 7, 2009
Although I don't filter KudoZ users, there are a few people I tend to stay clear of for many of the reasons stated above (rudeness, disrespect, systematical vanishing acts, total lack of context, as in requests consisting of 3 words, those he/she would like help with, etc.), but a little while ago I had a dumbfounding experience. I answered a question, had a feeling it was the only possible one, in fact nobody else proposed anything different and I got a bunch of agrees from colleagues. The poster thanked me profusely, he/she even went so far as to give me an agree (!!!), then a few days later proceeded to assign me 1 point.
Not the end of the world, I concur; I should be grateful he/she didn't "just close" the question, but I couldn't help thinking "What the heck..."
Raffaella
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Nikki Graham United Kingdom Local time: 02:52 Member (2003) Spanish to English
about 50 flagged and 150 filtered
Nov 7, 2009
However, I haven't answered a KudoZ question for nearly three months and still have no great inclination to do so.
I like what Kim said, so I'm quoting it below.
Kim Metzger wrote:
Professional translators are supposed to be perfectionists, i.e. people who have a "propensity for being displeased with anything that is not perfect or does not meet high standards." Askers and contributors will never grow as translators if they are sheltered from criticism. Healthy, robust debate is precisely what is needed in KudoZ. Lord knows, there is much to criticize. Cracking down every time someone gets his feelings hurt - the wrong tone, etc. is the wrong way to go and drives away the best and brightest.
People have mentioned politeness in this thread. Askers who repeatedly close questions without telling their helpers what other term they found elsewhere or who refuse to provide a decent amount of context or spend a little of their own time checking dictionaries before posting their questions are impolite. A contributor who doesn't mince words when critiquing colleagues and askers isn't, as long as he refrains from calling them morons, etc. He's helping us all towards that elusive goal of perfectionism.
[Edited at 2009-11-06 18:04 GMT]
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The translation workplace 
