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| User | Thread poster: Helen Shiner Proposal that people who post questions via the Kudoz system be obliged to provide context |
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Jared
Argentina
Local time: 11:23
 Member (2007)
SITE STAFF | |
Helen Shiner 
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:23
 Partial member (2008)
German to English
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TOPIC STARTER |
Helen Shiner wrote:
Jared wrote:
Hello Helen,
Providing separate fields to enter context sounds interesting, but I don't know how that would be better than improving on how information is entered in the current field; if you maintain that some askers are not using the current field correctly, breaking the field into various fields may just complicate matters. Keeping it simple and improving on how the one field is used is probably a surer route.
For the time being, as I've mentioned, the current field will be improved (if you haven't tried using it in the last day or so, give it a try-- it's on the first page of the form, so you can advance to the second page without actually submitting the question), and I'm putting together a general survey to members on the term help system.
Jared |
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I have seen it, thanks. Specific, separate fields would elict specific information without which a question could not be posted. A generalised field allows generalised information to be posted and does not require the provision of the specific information about context needed. If one can post a question with the words 'I haven't got any context' in this field, then it is a failure. |
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The problem is that is did not seem to have actually taken on board what I was saying. If people are given a bigger box, how will that encourage them to provide context? If it is education they need, then breaking it down into specific boxes clearly labelled would seem rather more sensible to me. I really don't understand your argument.
[Edited at 2010-12-10 12:26 GMT]
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Angela Dickson
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:23
 Member
French to English
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In my pair and specialist area (FR>EN, medical) Kudoz has long ceased to be a useful source of help, a useful archive or a fruitful forum for terminology discussion. Several highly-qualified answerers have long left, leaving only a few with actual expertise and language skills.
Fortunately there are other places where excellent terminology help can be obtained by serious askers. For this reason, I do not consider that it's worth my time and energy seeking ways to "improve" Kudoz, except to add this brief point.
For what it's worth: among reputable medical translators, Kudoz has become a laughing stock.
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Paul Cohen
Greenland
Local time: 12:23
German to English
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Angela Dickson wrote:
...among reputable medical translators, Kudoz has become a laughing stock. |
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Well, that certainly ought to set the alarm bells ringing.
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Rob Grayson
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:23
Partial member
French to English
| | Ditto for financial translators | Dec 10, 2010 |
Angela Dickson wrote:
For what it's worth: among reputable medical translators, Kudoz has become a laughing stock. |
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The same is true of reputable financial translators. The last time I posted a question on KudoZ myself was July 2009, and I fear it was already in terminal decline by then.
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Angela Dickson
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:23
Member
French to English
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| | Tempering the view | Dec 10, 2010 |
Rob Grayson wrote:
Angela Dickson wrote:
For what it's worth: among reputable medical translators, Kudoz has become a laughing stock. |
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The same is true of reputable financial translators. The last time I posted a question on KudoZ myself was July 2009, and I fear it was already in terminal decline by then. |
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I possibly exaggerate the situation, but it's certainly true that most of the medical translators I know would not consider posting a Kudoz question if they needed help with terminology, because far better venues exist. Good help can be had here, but there's a lot of noise interfering with the clear signals (and this goes for both askers and answerers, in my view).
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Paul Cohen
Greenland
Local time: 12:23
German to English
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| | Clear signals | Dec 10, 2010 |
Angela Dickson wrote:
I possibly exaggerate the situation, but it's certainly true that most of the medical translators I know would not consider posting a Kudoz question if they needed help with terminology, because far better venues exist. Good help can be had here, but there's a lot of noise interfering with the clear signals (and this goes for both askers and answerers, in my view). |
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I agree, "noise interfering with the clear signals" is a major problem and a lack of context certainly contributes to the overall din and confusion. There must be a better way to structure this cacophony.
Has KudoZ become semi-obsolete for other areas of specialization, aside from medical and financial texts? Definitely! I primarily translate journalistic and advertising texts and I stopped asking KudoZ questions over three years ago (May 2007 was my last one, to be exact) because I simply don't have the time and energy to filter out all the racket.
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philgoddard
United States
Local time: 09:23
German to English
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I'm glad to hear you're planning to do a survey by the year end, but this begs more questions:
1. Will it include a question asking whether there should be a system for voting down questions with no context?
2. If a majority of respondents say yes, will you implement one?
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Helen Shiner
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:23
Partial member (2008)
German to English
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TOPIC STARTER |
Jared wrote:
Hi Phil,
philgoddard wrote:
1. Do you intend to hold a full survey of members?
2. If so, when?
3. You say it is "highly unlikely" that you will adopt a system for
voting down answers with insufficient context. Does that mean you are
ruling it out, even if we tell you it's what we want?
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1. Yes.
2. With any luck, before year's end.
3. I believe it is much more likely that improvements will be made (as are being made) which do not so directly clash with the intended purpose of the term help system.
Jared |
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Hi Jared
We are now approaching the end of the year and, of course, the festive season for many people. Do you yet have a clearer idea of when the survey you plan will go live? I would hope it won't be published over Christmas and the New Year celebrations, since so few people will see it. If you do propose to do so, I hope it will remain up for some weeks so all get a chance to respond. Many thanks.
Good wishes for the holidays!
Helen
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Christel Zipfel
Partial member
Italian to German
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| | Noticed some changes in the "context" of questions | Dec 20, 2010 |
Instead of "nothing" I read now: "couldn't find this term, could you please help me?" or something like this. Still not very helpful to understand what they are talking about.
Which are your experiences? Are you really getting more context now?
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Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 17:23
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
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| | Define context | Dec 20, 2010 |
Perhaps many askers do not know, what is meant with "context".
How do you define context?
If the term in question appears in a whole sentence or paragraph you would post the whole sentence. But what if the term appears isolated in an Excel table?
What good does context do if I post in FI-DE Kudoz and nobody answers? If I post the question in EN-DE (after having found the translation into English) what help does the Finnish context offer to answerers in the EN-DE-kudoz-section?
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Helen Shiner
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:23
Partial member (2008)
German to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER |
Helen Shiner wrote:
Jared wrote:
Hi Phil,
philgoddard wrote:
1. Do you intend to hold a full survey of members?
2. If so, when?
3. You say it is "highly unlikely" that you will adopt a system for
voting down answers with insufficient context. Does that mean you are
ruling it out, even if we tell you it's what we want?
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1. Yes.
2. With any luck, before year's end.
3. I believe it is much more likely that improvements will be made (as are being made) which do not so directly clash with the intended purpose of the term help system.
Jared |
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Hi Jared
We are now approaching the end of the year and, of course, the festive season for many people. Do you yet have a clearer idea of when the survey you plan will go live? I would hope it won't be published over Christmas and the New Year celebrations, since so few people will see it. If you do propose to do so, I hope it will remain up for some weeks so all get a chance to respond. Many thanks.
Good wishes for the holidays!
Helen |
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I am disappointed not yet to have received a reply to my query dated 20 December. As soon as you are in circulation again, Jared, a clear statement of when we can expect the publication of this survey would be gratefully received, since so many people are concerned about these issues.
Thanks, Helen
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Jared
Argentina
Local time: 11:23
Member (2007)
SITE STAFF |
Hello Helen,
Helen Shiner wrote:
I am disappointed not yet to have received a reply to my query dated 20 December. As soon as you are in circulation again, Jared, a clear statement of when we can expect the publication of this survey would be gratefully received, since so many people are concerned about these issues.
Thanks, Helen |
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I haven't been out of circulation. I have posted in this thread 19 going on 20 times now, and will be taking a break from the discussion while I attend to such things as the KudoZ survey to members itself and a long list of other priorities, though. I appreciate everyone's patience on the matter.
With regards to the exposure of a survey, an ample sample audience is always allowed. Sometimes this means leaving it running longer.
Jared
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Helen Shiner
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:23
Partial member (2008)
German to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER |
Jared wrote:
Hello Helen,
Helen Shiner wrote:
I am disappointed not yet to have received a reply to my query dated 20 December. As soon as you are in circulation again, Jared, a clear statement of when we can expect the publication of this survey would be gratefully received, since so many people are concerned about these issues.
Thanks, Helen |
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I haven't been out of circulation. I have posted in this thread 19 going on 20 times now, and will be taking a break from the discussion while I attend to such things as the KudoZ survey to members itself and a long list of other priorities, though. I appreciate everyone's patience on the matter.
With regards to the exposure of a survey, an ample sample audience is always allowed. Sometimes this means leaving it running longer.
Jared |
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I don't understand your answer. All I wanted was to know when you planned to publish the survey you said you would be circulating before the end of the year. A simple answer to that would have done.
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Jared
Argentina
Local time: 11:23
Member (2007)
SITE STAFF | | KudoZ surveys running | Dec 28, 2010 |
Hello all,
There are a couple of surveys to members on the KudoZ term help system now running-- members should see links to these from the home page.
Best regards,
Jared
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