Good Bye to all Thread poster: Uwe Schwenk (X)
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Uwe Schwenk (X)
United States
Local time: 11:26
English to German
I have been with ProZ now since 2001 and after 8 years I have come to the conclusion that the direction taken by management is not a direction, I want to go along with. Therefore, I have decided to cease all activities and remove my profile from ProZ permanently this weekend.
While I was never a paying member, I always considered ProZ a meeting point for professionals helping each other and furthering the skill sets. Over the years ProZ has grown quite quickly but this is in my opin... See more I have been with ProZ now since 2001 and after 8 years I have come to the conclusion that the direction taken by management is not a direction, I want to go along with. Therefore, I have decided to cease all activities and remove my profile from ProZ permanently this weekend.
While I was never a paying member, I always considered ProZ a meeting point for professionals helping each other and furthering the skill sets. Over the years ProZ has grown quite quickly but this is in my opinion less because of the management but rather of the members who always displayed a high level of competence and professionalism and were always willing to go the “extra mile” to help others. This is especially true for the moderators, whether it was in language-specific, technical or other forums.
However, lately I have gotten the impression that management has changed direction to go more towards making money versus the high level of professionalism on display within the site by all members.
The final straw for me was the Google ad sense deal. Although the statements are made that the filters work, they do work only occasionally. To get them to work properly requires an incredible amount of work.
Let me give you an example: As some of you know, I do (like a considerable number of other translators on the site) a lot of volunteer work, and I designed and maintain the website for the Citizen Corps under http://www.wdvolunteer.com. I attempted for a while to include Adsense, not so much for making money but to provide some information for specialized equipment, training offerings, etc. However, I dropped this because close to 50 percent of the time maintaining the site was to clean out ads, such as the ones for the oldest profession, etc. It was just not worth the trouble, not to mention, a few rather irate comments from visitors from other emergency services.
While I understand that ProZ is a business and you are in business to make money, there is a fine line between making money on one side and loosing even more on the other. In my opinion, management went to the wrong side.
However, I do respect that decision by management, but it does force me to re-evaluate and make a decision myself, on whether I want to be affiliated with this undertaking. The answer is No in my case.
Therefore, I would like to thank all members who have helped me over the years, and I hope I was able to provide some help to you myself. If you need to reach me, you can reach me via my website under http://www.72arts.com/Contact.html.
Regards,
Dr. Uwe Schwenk ▲ Collapse
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Hi Uwe,
You say you have been with Proz for eigth years. However, your profile says "Registered at ProZ.com: Jul 2008." That is less than one year. How is that? A mistake, a bug? You might want to have it fixed.
Anyway, I am sorry to see you go.
I am sure you will always be welcome back if you change your mind.
| | | | Drew MacFadyen 
United States
Local time: 12:26
Spanish to English
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| Selcuk Akyuz
Türkiye
Local time: 19:26
English to Turkish
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| Thanks for your great support | Mar 18, 2009 |
Hi Uwe,
You helped us many times in Across support forum. As a proficient user, expert of Across, your contributions were always valuable. I hope you will consider your decision once more.
Selcuk
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| Consider continuing to use the site | Mar 18, 2009 |
Uwe Schwenk wrote:
However, lately I have gotten the impression that management has changed direction to go more towards making money...
Hi Uwe!
I wonder if you have not gotten a false impression. I understand your criticisms about the Google ads, and obviously you found out exactly how things work before we did.
But there has not been a change in direction here. As evidence, in addition to what Drew has posted, I would say two things: first, as you know, the site has always been commercial; ProZ.com is a for-profit business. Second, as you may also know, the fees have not been raised in 8 years (despite the fact that services are added continuously.)
Our objective as a business is only to provide you, as a translator, with a valuable service at a good price.
I hope you'll reconsider, Uwe, and continue to use and participate in the site!
(To Walter: I don't know about the profile issue, but Uwe is definitely a long-standing member of the community.)
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Hi Henry,
I know he`s been here for long. And you are just confirming it.
That`s why I wanted to point out this probable mistake / wrong data in his profile for him or site staff to know and may be correct it.
| | | | | Are those ads still visible? | Mar 19, 2009 |
Drew MacFadyen wrote:
.This is why we have removed these ads from the forums entirely and are investing considerable development work to rectify the issue.
Drew
I had never seen those ads, nor I had noticed them, until they were mentioned on the forums. But I am always logged on to ProZ. I never access ProZ from outside the site.
You said that you have "removed these ads from the forums entirely".
A direct question, Drew: ¿Is today a person who reaches ProZ from outside the site, as a potential client would do, searching for professionals of the second oldest profession, still exposed to those ads for services from the first oldest profession?
Regards,
Luis
Added after getting more information:
Drew:
After further reading, I know now the extent to which those ads are limited. Whether that is sufficient or not was not my question. I wanted to know just the facts.
Luis
[Edited at 2009-03-19 02:41 GMT]
| | | | | I can understand your decision | Mar 19, 2009 |
I am on the wing of the same decision.
I am just trying to understand the situation in 100% before taking such decisions.
I can't say anything bad about the place where I have earned money (less or much I have got money with the help of this site)
But your impression that management has changed direction to go more towards making money not an objective view exactly.
On the contrary site goes far away from those business principles (making money and de... See more I am on the wing of the same decision.
I am just trying to understand the situation in 100% before taking such decisions.
I can't say anything bad about the place where I have earned money (less or much I have got money with the help of this site)
But your impression that management has changed direction to go more towards making money not an objective view exactly.
On the contrary site goes far away from those business principles (making money and delivering services)
Within the last one year site began judging, evaluating and tagging its members and those actions are quite far away from the idea of making money.
I would like to advice you to wait for a while, try to understand the situation in 100%.
As you were here 8 years, you wont lose anything by waiting several months to prove your thoughts.
[Edited at 2009-03-19 02:01 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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AWa (X)
Local time: 18:26
English to German
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| disturbing development | Mar 19, 2009 |
First many moderators quit their volunteer "job" due to changes in their tasks, next paying members start considering ending their membership because they do not like the way proZ is going. Now even non-paying members (or to use the official ProZ terminology: "users") start leaving.
Who'll be left when all is said an done?
edited for typos
[Edited at 2009-03-19 17:52 GMT]
| | | | Uwe Schwenk (X)
United States
Local time: 11:26
English to German
TOPIC STARTER
Selcuk Akyuz wrote:
Hi Uwe,
You helped us many times in Across support forum. As a proficient user, expert of Across, your contributions were always valuable. I hope you will consider your decision once more.
Selcuk
I am in contact with Henry and will have a disucssion with him later on and then we will take it from there.
Uwe
| | | | | Excuse me Henry D but ... | Mar 25, 2009 |
...can you explain this.
(To Walter: I don't know about the profile issue, but Uwe is definitely a long-standing member of the community.) [/quote]
YOU do not know about "profile issue"?
Thank you!
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Walter Landesman wrote:
Hi Uwe,
You say you have been with Proz for eigth years. However, your profile says "Registered at ProZ.com: Jul 2008." That is less than one year. How is that? A mistake, a bug? You might want to have it fixed.
Hi Walter, there is no bug here. Uwe's current profile was created in July 2008.
Regards,
Enrique
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Uwe Schwenk (X)
United States
Local time: 11:26
English to German
TOPIC STARTER | My being here | Mar 25, 2009 |
After a long discussion with Henry, I have made the decision to re-evaulate after 3 months and then take it from there.
Uwe
PS: Dont worry about the profile.
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