What is the Blue Board?

We'll explain in a roundabout way. First of all, any ProZ.com member can enter a number from 1 to 5 corresponding to his or her likelihood of working again with a given outsourcer (ie. client or translation company/agency). By way of explanation, the member can also enter a line of text along with the number. In response, the outsourcer may enter a line of text of his/her/its own. The Blue Board is the complete, searchable database of the records containing entries and replies, along with outsourcer coordinates.

Over time, records have been collected for many outsourcers (4567 of them, half with entries.) In fact, the Blue Board is the largest built-from-scratch database of translation outsourcers in the world. What makes it most unique are the "likelihood of working again" entries from ProZ.com members--and the fact that you may know those members, or can contact them easily.

What does this mean to you?

If you are a translator/interpreter, you can use the Blue Board to help manage risk whenever you evaluate new clients. If you are an outsourcer, and your translators tend to work with you on an ongoing basis, this fact will be reflected in the Blue Board. The greatest beneficiaries of the Blue Board are popular outsourcers. Many members have commented on just how valuable a resource the Blue Board has been. To make a habit of using it, just remember the URL! http://proz.com/bb

To get to the Blue Board, click on "Jobs" in the menu at the top of the site, and then "Blue Board". [Jobs > Blue Board] You can also access the Blue Board using this URL: http://proz.com/bb (It is easy to remember!)

Note: What you enter is not anonymous, and you may be held personally responsible for any false or libelous comments. The outsourcer will be able to publicly reply to your comment as well. Furthermore, once an outsourcer has commented on your response, you cannot delete or edit the entry. (However, if both parties decide on having an entry removed, site staff will be more than happy to hide both entries.)

Plat-Facts:

• Platinum members are 4 times more likely to meet a client than a non-paying member.
  
• Platinum members meet on average 1 new client every 3 months.
  
• Nearly half of all Platinum members received a positive return on their investment within 3 months.

Related links:

The blue board can be reached by selecting Jobs->Blue board from the main menu, or directly from this link: http://www.proz.com/blueboard

Learn more about the Blue Board, by clicking on the following link: http://www.proz.com/?sp=bb&viewPage=faq

To view the most recent job postings, click on the following link: http://www.proz.com/