Another proposed change to KudoZ: repeating questions that have already been asked Thread poster: philgoddard
|
This is an increasing problem as the KudoZ archive gets bigger, and I'd like to suggest another change to deter people from wasting others' time by duplicating questions. When they post a question, they should have to check one of two boxes: 1. I have checked the glossary, but have not found this word/phrase. 2. I have found this word/phrase in the glossary, but I do not believe the translation is relevant to my context. What does everyone think? Th... See more This is an increasing problem as the KudoZ archive gets bigger, and I'd like to suggest another change to deter people from wasting others' time by duplicating questions. When they post a question, they should have to check one of two boxes: 1. I have checked the glossary, but have not found this word/phrase. 2. I have found this word/phrase in the glossary, but I do not believe the translation is relevant to my context. What does everyone think? This may not be the perfect solution to the problem, but it's an idea. ▲ Collapse | | |
I think this is a good idea provided checking either of these two boxes is made mandatory. This way the newcomers will learn to find their way to the Glossary even if they haven't done so earlier, and the experienced members will have a reminder set for them through this method. | | |
It's worth a try on a trial basis | Dec 30, 2010 |
Phil: I think it's a great idea. Neha: Your suggestions are an even greater idea! Happy New Year to you all! | | |
lexical Spain Local time: 11:18 Portuguese to English let's be clear about one thing | Dec 30, 2010 |
Askers would only be "wasting other people's time" by asking duplicate questions if you were obliged to answer them - but you're not. They may be wasting their own time, and you may choose to waste your time answering them, but that's a different matter. | |
|
|
Emma Goldsmith Spain Local time: 11:18 Member (2004) Spanish to English In theory it's not necessary | Dec 30, 2010 |
In theory when you post a question that is similar to one that has been asked before, you will be told this before you click on "confirm and send", and in fact you can see the old questions and click on the. In practice, people who post questions that have already been asked apparently have not taken any notice of these reminders, so I suspect they would also be happy to click through the boxes you suggest, Phil | | |
Rolf Kern Switzerland Local time: 11:18 English to German + ... In memoriam
I do not think that our Glossary is worth much. However, there should be an automatic reference to questens already asked containing at least one of the words of your question in order to see, wheter it might be useful. | | |
philgoddard United States German to English + ... TOPIC STARTER
Emma Goldsmith wrote: In theory when you post a question that is similar to one that has been asked before, you will be told this before you click on "confirm and send", and in fact you can see the old questions and click on them. I had no idea that was the case. That makes it even more heinous to post a duplicated question. Thanks for enlightening me! Lexical wrote: They may be wasting their own time, and you may choose to waste your time answering them, but that's a different matter. You don't "choose to waste time" answering them. You can't know that they're duplicated without either looking them up in the glossary or remembering them from the last time they were posted. | | |
I support this idea | Dec 31, 2010 |
kalungo wrote: Phil: I think it's a great idea. Neha: Your suggestions are an even greater idea! Happy New Year to you all! Agree! Soonthon Lupkitaro | |
|
|
Trudy Peters United States Local time: 06:18 German to English + ... Identical entries in personal glossaries | Dec 31, 2010 |
What bothers me are the multiple identical entries in the personal glossaries. (Sorry for straying from the main focus of this thread.) There should be a way to alert the persons who enter a term that they have already entered it. | | |
Who and where are the KudoZ Editors and what are their powers? | Dec 31, 2010 |
There might be a job for KudoZ Editors here. Since Moderators are not allowed to act as linguistic authorities, all they can do is remove questions that blatantly infringe the rules - and a lot of general muddle cannot be prevented by tightening the rules. It would simply make proper use of KudoZ impossible too. Believe me, folks if you think it has been discussed here, you should see the Mods' forums of the past... But since I stepped down as a Mod, I have rediscover... See more There might be a job for KudoZ Editors here. Since Moderators are not allowed to act as linguistic authorities, all they can do is remove questions that blatantly infringe the rules - and a lot of general muddle cannot be prevented by tightening the rules. It would simply make proper use of KudoZ impossible too. Believe me, folks if you think it has been discussed here, you should see the Mods' forums of the past... But since I stepped down as a Mod, I have rediscovered that I am a KudoZ Editor, and in fact I did raise a discussion about adjusting the way people become editors, which resulted in at least one person being invited to become an editor. http://www.proz.com/faq/5647#5647 But I have to admit that I am not entirely clear about what we can and cannot do! It would probably be easier to accept the unsystematic way that KudoZ functions, and somehow tidy up or amalgamate repeat questions afterwards. Askers who are desperate after a long, fruitless search, short of sleep and with a deadline looming up, are probably not amenable to new rules, and you cannot in practice make rules that distinguish between beginners who need to learn, serious translators who are just short of time, and those who are plain lazy. As mentioned so many times, KudoZ is there to help the asker, and no one is obliged to answer questions. If you get annoyed, adjust your settings so that you do not see so many questions, and block any particular askers who make you see red. Turn off all notifications for a week or two and ignore KudoZ altogether if necessary. I've been there myself, and come back with renewed gratitude to all those who do make helpful and professional contributions - who are after all the great majority! So THANKS to them and happy KudoZ participation in the New Year to everyone who wants to! ▲ Collapse | | |