Jabberwock Poland Local time: 16:51 Member (2004) English to Polish
Jan 1
Do you think it is possible to abuse the function of answer hiding? In particular, a person hides all the answers which, in retrospect, show glaring ignorance of the subject area. Most of the visible answers are those which received points, which might give an impression that the answerer is knowledgable in the field (which, of course, leads to more points, by the power of "authority").
Subject:
Comment:
The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)
Ty Kendall United Kingdom Local time: 15:51 Member (2011) Hebrew to English
I suppose....
Jan 1
.......it could. Although I'm not sure if the powers that be monitor these types of things.
I know that hiding and answer then trying to re-answer it should raise a flag somewhere as this comes under the "offering multiple translations for one question" thingy, and a little purple warning comes up on your second attempt.
I would never hide an answer to hide my "ignorance". If I'm wrong, I don't mind people seeing that. After all, you learn more from your mistakes than you do from your successes.
However, I can see how the scenario you described could actually happen, if someone went about hiding their answers in quite a tactical manner.....
....but then how could the average observer tell?
(Unless they are eagle eyed enough to see the answers before they "vanish").
Subject:
Comment:
The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)
Russell Jones United Kingdom Local time: 15:51 Member (2004) Italian to English
MODERATOR
A Moderator's perspective
Jan 1
Hidden answers remain visible to moderators.
In my experience (18 months) this is a rare occurrence. The few cases I do see give the appearance of people realising that they are on completely the wrong track and not wanting anyone to be misled or, even more occasionally, wanting to hide their embarassment at posting a ridiculous answer. I see no "serial hiders".
I can't tell you whether hidden answers are included in KudoZ "track records" or not but, if my experience is typical of other language pairs, it doesn't warrant pressing for an answer.
Subject:
Comment:
The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)
Anton Konashenok Czech Republic Local time: 16:51 Russian to English + ...
This isn't really an abuse
Jan 1
I don't think "serial hiding" (if it actually occurs) is an abuse - in fact, it's more likely to be this particular person's way of learning: posting the best guess, then removing it if proven wrong. On the other hand, I routinely see a few posters, may they remain nameless, offer totally clueless answers and insist on them even after several professionals in the given field have explained them why they are wrong. Why they decide to embarrass themselves in plain view of their potential clients is beyond my understanding.
Subject:
Comment:
The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)
Katalin Horvath McClure United States Local time: 10:51 Member (2002) English to Hungarian + ...
3.8 - Will my hidden answers be visible in my list of answers?
You will always be able to see the answers you have hidden in your list of KudoZ answers. Other users will only see your hidden answers if you have hidden 10% or more of your total answers (but no less than 20 answers).
Hidden answers will figure under the Answered tab in the KudoZ activity section of profiles, with the link to the question, but with "Answer hidden by answerer" instead of the source and target term.
They will also be added to the total count of Questions answered (shown on the main page of profiles) and in the statistics found in the KudoZ activity section.
I believe this mechanism was put in place at the time of this announcement, discussing precisely what was brought up in this thread, too.
Let me quote the first few lines, for the rest, see the thread at the link below.
Dear members,
It has has been observed that some answerers hide many of their answers which have not been selected in order to improve the appearance of their performance in KudoZ.
While hiding your answers is allowed and will not be limited, there is a perception that the above described behavior is not fair and should be discouraged.
The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)
Jabberwock Poland Local time: 16:51 Member (2004) English to Polish
TOPIC STARTER
Sounds reasonable
Jan 2
Katalin Horvath McClure wrote:
You will always be able to see the answers you have hidden in your list of KudoZ answers. Other users will only see your hidden answers if you have hidden 10% or more of your total answers (but no less than 20 answers).
That practically answers my question. Even though the "serial hider" happens to be also a "serial point grabber", the 10% ratio should prevent abuse of the feature.
Subject:
Comment:
The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)
neilmac Spain Local time: 16:51 Member (2007) Spanish to English + ...
Depends
Jan 2
I hid an answer of my own just the other day because I felt my own initial suggestion had been copied and I felt a bit stroppy. It had been up for a few days and the asker hadn't done anything with it so I thought they might as well just go with one of the other suggestions, which were all good, if I remember rightly.
I am usually in a hurry when looking at kudoz, so may occasionally jump to a wrong conclusion, and sometimes this can also happen due to lack of context in the question. I think it would be unfair to penalise this kind of behaviour, when every day we can see glaring example of people posting questions who are obviously unfit for purpose in the first place. It is after all a bit of a free-for-all and I think most translators worth their salt can tell a crock from an alligator.
Subject:
Comment:
The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)
To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:
Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users!
Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro 3.0 through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value
A fully featured online CAT tool and TMS, with no installation required, and a simple, intuitive interface. Maximize linguistic assets by sharing in real time as you collaborate with colleagues. Make use of next generation, cloud-based translation technol
The translation workplace 
