Blue Board: rating options Thread poster: Natalya Zelikova
|
|---|
Wouldn't it be useful to have a number of rating options behind the general LWA?
I mean that this way we could get more information about any outsourcer.
For example if the outsourcer pays on time, but is not very supportive during the project, not very organized, not communicative etc., I would like to know this instead of having LWA 4 (or even 5) for this company.
I also think that if the company is very good at handling the translation process, regularly sends excelle... See more Wouldn't it be useful to have a number of rating options behind the general LWA?
I mean that this way we could get more information about any outsourcer.
For example if the outsourcer pays on time, but is not very supportive during the project, not very organized, not communicative etc., I would like to know this instead of having LWA 4 (or even 5) for this company.
I also think that if the company is very good at handling the translation process, regularly sends excellent orders for many of its translators, but tends to delay payments, its LWA can still be 5, though it is not a 100% true.
Comments usually do not provide necessary information.
If I am not the only one who would be interested in this, I would like to see the following rating options: payment, organization/support, communication/availability, rates, projects, etc.
These rating options can be displayed only on the company’s personal BB page, and the list of companies (as well as company’s job posting, etc.) can still show only the general LWA.
I wouldn’t want such a detailed rating to be obligatory: any translator should have an opportunity to rate only those aspects of company’s work, which s/he is familiar with. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Good idea, Natalya! | Apr 7, 2006 |
I hope that it can be worked out. This information is very useful.
Hoever, is this feasible? It might be big project that is not readily implemented.
Still, excellent idea!
Lucinda
| | | | Ralf Lemster 
Germany
Local time: 22:24
English to German
+ ...
| Added to the wish list for the next Jobs/BB release | Apr 7, 2006 |
Thanks for the suggestion, Natalya!
I have moved this topic to the Job Systems forum, and added it to our internal 'wish list' for the next release.
Best, Ralf
| | | | Natalya Zelikova
Poland
Local time: 22:24
English to Russian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
|
|
|
| Reporting non-payment rule | Apr 7, 2006 |
Because the Blueboard is so vital when offered a translation by an unknown company, particularly when it is foreign and hard to follow up for non-payment, I think it is of vital important that we get the rules right.
At the moment there is a rule that an outsourcer cannot be reported for non-payment if they have complained about the quality of translation. In my case I am owed 4800 dollars by an outsourcer who, without being a translator or even knowing the subject or the languages... See more Because the Blueboard is so vital when offered a translation by an unknown company, particularly when it is foreign and hard to follow up for non-payment, I think it is of vital important that we get the rules right.
At the moment there is a rule that an outsourcer cannot be reported for non-payment if they have complained about the quality of translation. In my case I am owed 4800 dollars by an outsourcer who, without being a translator or even knowing the subject or the languages involved, automatically complained about the quality of a 140,000-word translation fifteen minutes after receiving it.
As someone who has recently received quite a lot of work from outsourcers through Proz I need the blueboard to work properly and consider that as a community we are responsible for making sure we have workable rules.
Any suggestions or opinions? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ralf Lemster
Germany
Local time: 22:24
English to German
+ ...
| We need to go by facts | Apr 7, 2006 |
Lesley,
As I handled this case, I would like to add a key aspect.
Lesley Clarke wrote:
Because the Blueboard is so vital when offered a translation by an unknown company, particularly when it is foreign and hard to follow up for non-payment, I think it is of vital important that we get the rules right.
At the moment there is a rule that an outsourcer cannot be reported for non-payment if they have complained about the quality of translation. In my case I am owed 4800 dollars by an outsourcer who, without being a translator or even knowing the subject or the languages involved, automatically complained about the quality of a 140,000-word translation fifteen minutes after receiving it.
I explicitly asked you to forward the messages separately; what you submitted was a summary messages, without a time showing the outsourcer's response. In the absence of this, I simply had to accept the fact that the outsourcer raised an objection.
Admittedly, the situation was somewhat borderline, but we simply cannot start assessing the quality of translations submitted.
Best regards,
Ralf
| | | | Elizabeth Ardans
Uruguay
Local time: 17:24
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
| thanks for the suggestion! | Apr 8, 2006 |
Natalya Zelikova wrote:
If I am not the only one who would be interested in this, I would like to see the following rating options: payment, organization/support, communication/availability, rates, projects, etc.
I think this would be very useful to really determine whether you would like to work for a certain company or not. Some translators may don't care about aspects that are very important to others, and a more detailed feedback could be a great improvement of the BB. Thanks for the suggestion!!
| | | | Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 23:24
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
| Only yes or no would be sufficient | Apr 8, 2006 |
The only relevant question regarding BB-rating should be, if you would work for the outsourcer again or not. Then nobody could argue with your rating, because you only express your opinion. All discussions about payment and quality etc. do not belong to a public instrument like the BlueBoard, IMO.
Regards
Heinrich
| | |
|
|
|
Natalya Zelikova
Poland
Local time: 22:24
English to Russian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Heinrich Pesch wrote:
The only relevant question regarding BB-rating should be, if you would work for the outsourcer again or not. Then nobody could argue with your rating, because you only express your opinion.
I am aware of this, but... In fact my opinion always has some details behind. And still it should be considered as nothing else than an opinion.
Most likely it will be very difficult to implement all this on BB, but may be outsourcers could help to do this correctly, to set certain rules/criteria/short description for each option's rating level?
| | | | | Keep it safe and simple | Apr 8, 2006 |
Heinrich Pesch wrote:
The only relevant question regarding BB-rating should be, if you would work for the outsourcer again or not. Then nobody could argue with your rating, because you only express your opinion.
I fully agree with Heinrich, the BB ratings express the TRANSLATOR's likelihood of working again and are therefore indisputable.
Any free text or formatted indications as to the agency's policies could be used against the poster and the site in court actions (this seems to have been the case with some Italian colleagues, anyway).
Despite agreeing in principle with the suggestions to broaden BB ratings, I don't really think the idea would be feasible.
So my suggestion is, keep it simple, just as it is.
Low numbers speak for themselves.
Ciao, DZ
| | | | | indisputable and utterly useless | Apr 8, 2006 |
Daniela Zambrini wrote: Heinrich Pesch wrote:
The only relevant question regarding BB-rating should be, if you would work for the outsourcer again or not. Then nobody could argue with your rating, because you only express your opinion. I fully agree with Heinrich, the BB ratings express the TRANSLATOR's likelihood of working again and are therefore indisputable.
I have to say I completely disagree with the above statements. While it is true that the less information there is the more "indisputable" it is it is also true that a simple rating is close to useless.
Whenever I am contacted by an agency that has a poor BB rating I always find the comments far more useful than the actual ratings. Only a week ago I was contacted by an agency with an average rating of under 2. However, it was clear from the comments that they were not people who didn't want to pay - just people who were badly organised (but always paid anyway). Instead of refusing the work, I negotiated advance payment in order to not depend on the company's disorganised approach and I used the Blue Board entries with comments as back-up for my demands.
Similarly, 3 days later I was contacted by another agency with a rating of over 3 but the comments there made me 100% sure that I do not wish to work with this agency.
I very much back Natalya's idea and thank her for bringing it up.
| | | | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Blue Board: rating options | Trados Business Manager Lite | Create customer quotes and invoices from within Trados Studio
Trados Business Manager Lite helps to simplify and speed up some of the daily tasks, such as invoicing and reporting, associated with running your freelance translation business.
More info » |
| | Anycount & Translation Office 3000 | Translation Office 3000
Translation Office 3000 is an advanced accounting tool for freelance translators and small agencies. TO3000 easily and seamlessly integrates with the business life of professional freelance translators.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
