Proposal: a practice KudoZ section for newcomers
Thread poster: Kim Metzger
Kim Metzger
Kim Metzger  Identity Verified
Mexico
Local time: 16:10
German to English
Sep 20, 2005

It takes a while for someone to get the hang of asking and answering KudoZ questions properly after he/she has just discovered ProZ.com for the first time. I see this especially with questions marked "This question was posted via an affiliate site (yourDictionary.com) (GermanEnglish translation services)."

Some sites have "practice forums" for newcomers:

The Practice Forum
The Play Room - For learning how to use these forums rather than making a fool of yourse
... See more
It takes a while for someone to get the hang of asking and answering KudoZ questions properly after he/she has just discovered ProZ.com for the first time. I see this especially with questions marked "This question was posted via an affiliate site (yourDictionary.com) (GermanEnglish translation services)."

Some sites have "practice forums" for newcomers:

The Practice Forum
The Play Room - For learning how to use these forums rather than making a fool of yourself in the main forums!

http://www.mexconnected.com/forumsindex.html

We now have a lengthy KudoZ FAQ and a flash introduction to KudoZ, but it seems to be often ignored. I think it would be great to require newcomers to go through a practice session before being permitted to ask questions publicly. What do you think?
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Deborah do Carmo
Deborah do Carmo  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 22:10
Dutch to English
+ ...
Thumbs up Sep 20, 2005

I think that's a sound idea Kim.

We had a rather unpleasant situation crop up on the Dutch to English site last week with a newcomer because he just didn't read the rules.

You are quite right, some newcomers obviously don't bother to read the rules and get quite irate when they are pointed out. We should all be concentrating on real translation issues, not "policing" and "spoonfeeding".

Newcomers who have graduated from a practice section will receive a far
... See more
I think that's a sound idea Kim.

We had a rather unpleasant situation crop up on the Dutch to English site last week with a newcomer because he just didn't read the rules.

You are quite right, some newcomers obviously don't bother to read the rules and get quite irate when they are pointed out. We should all be concentrating on real translation issues, not "policing" and "spoonfeeding".

Newcomers who have graduated from a practice section will receive a far warmer response when they do start proper Kudozing, as their questions will be "up to scratch" and there will be no excuses as everyone will have the same assumed level of knowledge.

There will be far less bickering as a result and I'm sure the mods will have an easier time too.

Keep well
Debs
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Brandis (X)
Brandis (X)
Local time: 23:10
English to German
+ ...
Do you mean to Sep 20, 2005

make this mandatory or is it better to offer initial incentive like 5-10 Broniz for this? Like a hospitant having to fulfil a few rituals before participating in KudoZ. Brandis

[Edited at 2005-09-20 16:26]


 
Victor Dewsbery
Victor Dewsbery  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 23:10
German to English
+ ...
Barrier to entry Sep 20, 2005

How many of us would be here if this had been in place when we first came to ProZ? I would probably have given it a miss.

Sure, some people get things wrong in the way they ask their early questions. But over time most people work out how it is done. Some people still don't get the hang of it after months - for example those who regularly ask questions without any context ("I only want the one word"). But the "jump in with both feet" approach (with gentle explanations from experienc
... See more
How many of us would be here if this had been in place when we first came to ProZ? I would probably have given it a miss.

Sure, some people get things wrong in the way they ask their early questions. But over time most people work out how it is done. Some people still don't get the hang of it after months - for example those who regularly ask questions without any context ("I only want the one word"). But the "jump in with both feet" approach (with gentle explanations from experienced users from time to time) seems to me to work quite well.
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Proposal: a practice KudoZ section for newcomers






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