Reminder to check BlueBoard in messages from unregistered users Thread poster: Jeff Whittaker
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Jeff Whittaker 
United States
Local time: 23:11
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
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I just received an e-mail from a translation agency (using a g-mail address and with the usual warning "The author is not a registered ProZ.com user or was not logged in when sending this message.") When I checked the BlueBoard, the company has an extremely bad payment record.
My suggestion is that when we are sent a message via Proz from a user who is not registered or logged in, a disclaimer should be added somewhere in the message stating something like "if this message concerns... See more I just received an e-mail from a translation agency (using a g-mail address and with the usual warning "The author is not a registered ProZ.com user or was not logged in when sending this message.") When I checked the BlueBoard, the company has an extremely bad payment record.
My suggestion is that when we are sent a message via Proz from a user who is not registered or logged in, a disclaimer should be added somewhere in the message stating something like "if this message concerns a job offer, please remember/you may wish to check the BlueBoard before responding to this offer..."
Update: In my case, I checked the BlueBoard and requested pre-payment, but they responded that my rate was too high for their "budget" of .04 a word (and this for a rush project due tomorrow).
As a side note, I received another job offer yesterday from a company in the U.S. requesting a quote on an 82,000,000-word project to be completed in one month (split between multiple translators, of course) for the rate of .02 - .025 per word. I shudder to think of the result of over 900 translators working at .02 a word. I think they would be better off just using MT.
[Edited at 2011-09-29 20:19 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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| Good suggestion | Sep 30, 2011 |
Hi Jeff,
I have received several emails from agencies asking for rates, minimum rate, rates per hour; and a few of them have told me they agree with everything I am asking for (i.e. 50% payment in advance for a first time job, then 30 days after job delivery). Some of them ask for translation tests, then reply to you to let you know how good your translation test was, but never hear from them again.
I have checked them in the BlueBoard when receiving the same message y... See more Hi Jeff,
I have received several emails from agencies asking for rates, minimum rate, rates per hour; and a few of them have told me they agree with everything I am asking for (i.e. 50% payment in advance for a first time job, then 30 days after job delivery). Some of them ask for translation tests, then reply to you to let you know how good your translation test was, but never hear from them again.
I have checked them in the BlueBoard when receiving the same message you did from Proz in the email: "The author is not a registered ProZ.com user or was not logged in when sending this message." but when I checked the BlueBoard, the company did not exist, nor could I find the name of the owner of the company or PM. So what worries me is "Is it safe to send each one of these agencies or PM's that contact you, all this information they ask for?"
The BlueBoard is a great tool but it is impossible for it to cover any or all agencies there are. I do try to check each person or agency contacting me for potential or future jobs, but as I said, I have not been lucky all the time.
I believe your suggestion is very good and maybe Proz should include it in the same email when informing you about this outsourcer not being a registered Proz.com user.
Now, about those extremely low rates you mention, there must be people accepting them, if not why would they offer them? They probably do not care about the results, because they will hire a proofreader to correct whatever mess they receive as translation. ▲ Collapse
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 05:11
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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Jeff Whittaker wrote:
My suggestion is that when we are sent a message via Proz from a user who is not registered or logged in, a disclaimer should be added somewhere in the message stating something like "if this message concerns a job offer, please remember/you may wish to check the BlueBoard before responding to this offer..."
The more disclaimer-type or general-information-type of text in the e-mail, the less likely it will be read. Rather have a short warning than a long one. Or, how about simply a link to the Blue Board?
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Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 23:11
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | BlueBoard reminder | Sep 30, 2011 |
There is normally a link to the BlueBoard when the user is logged in. However, some companies, perhaps knowing they have a poor payment record, try to circumvent the system by sending a message as an unregistered user.
Samuel Murray wrote:
The more disclaimer-type or general-information-type of text in the e-mail, the less likely it will be read. Rather have a short warning than a long one. Or, how about simply a link to the Blue Board?
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Raúl Casanova
Uruguay
Local time: 00:11
English to Spanish
In memoriam | E-Mail preferences | Sep 30, 2011 |
What about just editing your E-Mail preferences? Tick the box in "Allow only ProZ.com users who are logged in to send me messages via my profile" and you won't even see any suspicius message.
It won't work to screen out low rate offers, but at least will avoid wasting some of your time.
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Gina W
United States
Local time: 23:11
Member (2003)
French to English
| I agree, good suggestion | Sep 30, 2011 |
Jeff Whittaker wrote:
My suggestion is that when we are sent a message via Proz from a user who is not registered or logged in, a disclaimer should be added somewhere in the message stating something like "if this message concerns a job offer, please remember/you may wish to check the BlueBoard before responding to this offer..."
Yes, it's always good to have a reminder. I mean most of us do this as a habit, but when things are hectic sometimes and we're only human, we could forget. So thanks for the suggestion.
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| I agree - Less is better | Sep 30, 2011 |
Samuel Murray wrote:
The more disclaimer-type or general-information-type of text in the e-mail, the less likely it will be read. Rather have a short warning than a long one. Or, how about simply a link to the Blue Board?
I entirely agree. I quickly look for the kernel of the message and strip all the rest from my mind. Less is better in this case.
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