Asker's forgetting about/not closing the question? Thread poster: Przemyslaw Podmostko (X)
|
|---|
Przemyslaw Podmostko (X) 
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:39
English to Polish
+ ...
I don't want to sound whimsy but has it already happened to you that you spend a good portion of time doing research, trying to find out a proper translation and propose an answer to an asker's question and he/she doesn't even bother to close the question after checking it? I mean, we offer help in exchange for KudoZ points that later on declare our activity, right? Shouldn't it feel like exploitation?
Any suggestions? I thought that if after some time the question is still not revi... See more I don't want to sound whimsy but has it already happened to you that you spend a good portion of time doing research, trying to find out a proper translation and propose an answer to an asker's question and he/she doesn't even bother to close the question after checking it? I mean, we offer help in exchange for KudoZ points that later on declare our activity, right? Shouldn't it feel like exploitation?
Any suggestions? I thought that if after some time the question is still not revised by the asker someone could just 'agreed' on the answer if he/she finds it correct. Then the ProZ robot that rates the question on the basis of 'agree's' given will do the rest. Are any deals between translators acceptable in that matter?
Whaddya think?
Przemek ▲ Collapse
| | | |
texjax DDS PhD
Local time: 02:39
Member (2006)
English to Italian
+ ...
| This mechanism is already in place.. | Dec 17, 2007 |
Hi Przemyslaw,
please check the FAQ section...
4. What happens if a question isn't graded?
If a question has received answers but not been closed within three days, email is sent to the asker reminding him or her to grade. If the question remains open after four such reminders have been sent (over 2 weeks), an attempt is made to select the best answer automatically. An 'autograding robot' ma... See more Hi Przemyslaw,
please check the FAQ section...
4. What happens if a question isn't graded?
If a question has received answers but not been closed within three days, email is sent to the asker reminding him or her to grade. If the question remains open after four such reminders have been sent (over 2 weeks), an attempt is made to select the best answer automatically. An 'autograding robot' makes its selection based on the net number of peer 'agrees' received by each answer, according to the following rules:
- To be considered, an answer must have at least two "net agrees" (agrees-disagrees).
- The answer with the highest number of net agrees is selected. If two answers have the same number of net agrees, the last one entered is selected. The idea is that if two answers gather the same number of net agrees, the one that did so in a shorter period of time may be better.)
If no answer has at least 2 net agrees, it remains open.
http://www.proz.com/faq/kudoz#kudoz_question_grading ▲ Collapse
| | | |
Sabine Schlottky
Germany
Local time: 08:39
Member (2005)
English to German
+ ...
| Send personal reminder to the asker | Dec 17, 2007 |
I already sent a personal message to the asker in such a case asking her politely to grade the answers. And it turned out that she did not know how to grade at all because she was not a "professional" proz user.
There may be other reasons for not grading but I'd say that a friendly hint will always be worthwhile.
| | | |
The Misha
Local time: 02:39
Russian to English
+ ...
| Note the asker and never answer their questions again | Dec 18, 2007 |
That's what I do. Boy, do I know how to hold a grudge!
| | |
|
|
|
| Try agreeing with other answerers | Dec 18, 2007 |
Quoted from above:
"Any suggestions? I thought that if after some time the question is still not revised by the asker someone could just 'agree' on the answer if he/she finds it correct. Then the ProZ.com robot that rates the question on the basis of 'agree's' given will do the rest. Are any deals between translators acceptable in that matter?"
Endquote.
Making agreements to boost each other's scores would be against the rules, but if you impartially agree with AL... See more
| | | |
| "hit'n run askers" | Dec 18, 2007 |
Christine Andersen wrote:
2.6 Askers must close questions. Close questions by selecting the answer deemed most helpful (and awarding it points, unless the question was posed as "not-for-points"). Askers who do not close their questions within an appropriate period of time are not permitted to ask further questions.
Hi Christine and all,
We have a problem with "hit'n run askers", who are mostly non-paying members.
They register for just one occasion, ask a bunch of questions, get their answers, and then never come back to Proz.
For them, it doesn't matter if they're punished, since they didn't intend to use Proz in the long run anyway.
There are many old open questions out there (even since 2002), that never got closed by the robot, because they never achieved two net agrees.
And when I try to contact them, most probably their e-mail address isn't even active anymore, so my message will just bounce.
In many "odd" language pairs, like Malay>Swedish or Latvian>Swedish, there simply aren't enough active translators on Proz to give their agrees. Those answers will be left open until the cow comes home. Unless the rules for the Kudoz robot are changed!
Any suggestions???
/Jan
| | | |
| Just a small improvement | Dec 18, 2007 |
texjax DDS PhD wrote: Hi Przemyslaw, please check the FAQ section... 4. What happens if a question isn't graded? If a question has received answers but not been closed within three days, email is sent to the asker reminding him or her to grade. If the question remains open after four such reminders have been sent (over 2 weeks), an attempt is made to select the best answer automatically. An 'autograding robot' makes its selection based on the net number of peer 'agrees' received by each answer, according to the following rules: - To be considered, an answer must have at least two "net agrees" (agrees-disagrees). - The answer with the highest number of net agrees is selected. If two answers have the same number of net agrees, the last one entered is selected. The idea is that if two answers gather the same number of net agrees, the one that did so in a shorter period of time may be better.) If no answer has at least 2 net agrees, it remains open. http://www.proz.com/faq/kudoz#kudoz_question_grading
Just add another "rule":
"After 3 (or 6, or whatever) months, questions still open and with no answer with at least 2 net agrees will be automatically cleared from the list".
| | | |
| Please add your own agrees, where you are qualified to do so | Dec 19, 2007 |
J-a-n S-ndstr-m wrote:
There are many old open questions out there (even since 2002), that never got closed by the robot, because they never achieved two net agrees.
And when I try to contact them, most probably their e-mail address isn't even active anymore, so my message will just bounce.
In many "odd" language pairs, like Malay>Swedish or Latvian>Swedish, there simply aren't enough active translators on Proz to give their agrees. Those answers will be left open until the cow comes home. Unless the rules for the Kudoz robot are changed!
Any suggestions???
/Jan
There are lots of old questions in "my" pairs too.
I do occasionally search for open questions and add agrees to one or other of the answers. I don't have time to do it a lot...
We do need more people to do this, because sometimes I am the only person to add an agree, and a second is still needed for the robot to close the question. Sometimes the question is too specialised, so I do not really know which is the best answer, and have to leave it.
I don't think it would be fair if the robot closed the question automatically where there is no clear 'winner' or best answer - it would simply allocate points on a random basis. There has to be an element of human judgement.
Some of these questions are not really difficult or useful to future users of the glossary, so perhaps they should simply be deleted. KudoZ is a game, and in some rounds of every game there simply is no winner. That's life!
| | | |
Login to reply/comment 
