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| User | Thread poster: anisco The real value of the Blueboard |
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Riccardo Schiaffino 
United States
Local time: 13:51
  Member (2002)
English to Italian
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I always check new prospects (and sometimes even old customers with whom we have not worked for a while) in the Blue Board, and in at least another couple of online payment practices sites.
I don't think that a mention of the rates paid by each company would be of any use in the Blue Board: the BB is to provide us with information that we would otherwise find difficult to get (whether or not a company pays promptly or as agreed), not for information that we would get with the assignment (whether or not the company accepts our rates - we can find that in their answer to our e-mail).
Adding information about what kind of rates a translation company pays, would only add noise to the system.
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Kay Barbara
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:51
Member (2008)
English to German
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| | Good value (if I had cared to look)! | Feb 23, 2009 |
Aniello Scognamiglio wrote:
A UK agency with 195 entries in the Blueboard is currently hiring English into German External Quality Managers offering a standard rate of $20/hour for External Quality Management.
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First of all, I would like to say that this is, in my opinion, a ridiculous offer. However, it can easily explained when you have look at who that agency expect to work for that money:
Quote from their job posting:
This is a great opportunity for individuals with language/translation/editing experience (teachers, recent grads, grad students, etc.) to earn extra money through freelance work.
Having read this, it is clear to me that this agency has a completely understanding of quality than I have... Some people just have to "educated" as to what quality translations are worth.
Back to topic:
The blueboard is very good. However one time I did not look at the agency's profile before working with them (I was a bit desperate for clients during the start-up of my freelance business). When the payment had not arrived after the agreed period of 60 days (from now on 45, preferably 30 days), I finally looked at the blueboard and found a lot of 1-ratings and that the outsourcer had been banned from posting jobs at ProZ.com.
Okay, it was a bit late then, but after looking at some comments I knew what do to with that agency (it was easy, really) and received the payment soon afterwards...
Well, that was a lesson learnt and I will never forget to look at the Blueboard again
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Rod Walters
Japan
Local time: 04:51
Japanese to English
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My best clients aren't on there.
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Cristina Heraud-van Tol
Peru
Local time: 14:51
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
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| | Excellent value | Feb 23, 2009 |
I also agree with the excellent value of the Blue Board. It has saved me sometimes from accepting jobs from lousy companies. As stated by Proz:
"...any ProZ.com user can enter a number from 1 to 5 corresponding to his or her likelihood of working again (LWA) with a given outsourcer (ie. client or translation company/agency)."
So the Blue Board is only meant for translators to express if they liked to work with a given company. You can then explain the reasons why you liked or not the company (nice/bad people, quick/late payers, interesting/boring jobs, etc.) but it's not meant to give them a bad rating because they paid you little for a job and rate... you had mutually previously agreed!
The Blue Board is to give a comment AFTER you did a job, so it's suppose that you agreed the payment with the company. If the company offered you a job of 1000 words for US$ 30, you accepted it, did the job, and then the company pays you within a week, this is still a good company, independently from the rate previously agreed by both of you.
The real value of the Blue Board, I believe, is to be able to read the comments of other translators and have the possibility to avoid working for bad companies, as well as to choose for the good ones.
Regards!
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Walter Landesman
Uruguay
Local time: 16:51
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
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Rod Walters wrote:
My best clients aren't on there. |
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And that means ......?
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Walter Landesman
Uruguay
Local time: 16:51
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
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| | Agree w/Cristina | Feb 24, 2009 |
Cristina Heraud-van Tol wrote:
I also agree with the excellent value of the Blue Board. It has saved me sometimes from accepting jobs from lousy companies. As stated by Proz:
"...any ProZ.com user can enter a number from 1 to 5 corresponding to his or her likelihood of working again (LWA) with a given outsourcer (ie. client or translation company/agency)."
So the Blue Board is only meant for translators to express if they liked to work with a given company. You can then explain the reasons why you liked or not the company (nice/bad people, quick/late payers, interesting/boring jobs, etc.) but it's not meant to give them a bad rating because they paid you little for a job and rate... you had mutually previously agreed!
The Blue Board is to give a comment AFTER you did a job, so it's suppose that you agreed the payment with the company. If the company offered you a job of 1000 words for US$ 30, you accepted it, did the job, and then the company pays you within a week, this is still a good company, independently from the rate previously agreed by both of you.
The real value of the Blue Board, I believe, is to be able to read the comments of other translators and have the possibility to avoid working for bad companies, as well as to choose for the good ones.
Regards! |
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Dittto.
I could not have said it more clearly.
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Alexandra Goldburt
United States
Local time: 12:51
English to Russian
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Rod Walters wrote:
My best clients aren't on there. |
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Mine, either. But then, I'm mainly an interpreter, and only about 10% of my income comes from translating.
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Jerzy Czopik
Germany
Local time: 21:51
Member (2003)
Polish to German
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| | Make it complete | Feb 24, 2009 |
Rod Walters wrote:
My best clients aren't on there. |
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Tell us - we put the in.
If something is in your eyes imperfect, donźt your first try to fix it, before you critisize?
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Rod Walters
Japan
Local time: 04:51
Japanese to English
| | Response to the initial question | Feb 24, 2009 |
Aniello asked "What are your experiences?"
I merely answered his question.
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Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 12:51
 Member
English to German
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Rod Walters wrote:
Incomplete
My best clients aren't on there. |
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Simply go to:
>Directories >Blueboard >Add outsourcer
Then enter the information and the Blueboard won't be incomplete any longer.
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Paola Dentifrigi
Italy
Local time: 21:51
Member (2003)
English to Italian
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| | I never take a job from a new agency without checking it first | Feb 24, 2009 |
It happend to me yesterday. I got a mail from a Swiss agency who urgently needed Italian translators from EN as her translator had just disappeared without delivering the job. It sounded interesting as the Swiss pay better rates than Italians . But I checked the BB and she had so many 1 that I didn't even reply (actually, sometimes I do, saying: sorry your BB rate is too low). I'm happy to add that all my invoices were always paid.
Paola
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Jenny Forbes
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:51
Member (2006)
French to English
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I find the Blue Board most valuable, even if it has imperfections. Whenever I'm approached by a new outsourcer I look at their BB record first and it has helped me find several good new clients and avoid bad ones. Indeed, the Blue Board was the reason why I joined Proz in the first place, later discovering its many other advantages.
Jenny
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Jan Willem van Dormolen
Netherlands
Local time: 21:51
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
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| | On the contrary | Feb 24, 2009 |
Liv Fridtjofsen wrote:
I think it might as well happen that translators may have to delete their negative comments to get paid.......
[Edited at 2009-02-23 21:08 GMT] |
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I've never had that experience, or know someone who has, but maybe...?
However, what I DID experience, was that I got paid after I entered a bad comment.
So the 'coercion' actually (sometimes) works in our favour!
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Nigel Greenwood
Spain
Local time: 21:51
Member (2008)
Spanish to English
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| | At the first I had my doubts | Feb 24, 2009 |
At the beginning, I had my doubts regarding the efficiency of the BB, but since then, I have used it correctly, i.e. checking on outsourcers before accepting a job. I am in full agreement that BB is very efficient and helps make this profession worthwhile. Of course, its effectiveness also depends very much on ‘our’ honesty. Personally, I make a point of introducing reports for any outsourcer who stands out for either: a) late payments, hassling, etc. or b) prompt payments, collaboration, etc.
Regards to all,
Nigel.
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