Premature awarding of Kudoz points Thread poster: Trudy Peters
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Trudy Peters 
United States
Local time: 21:08
German to English
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I have noticed that many people award Kudoz points immediately to the first answer they get. While it may be a good answer, and they may well use it in their translation, I think they should wait at least a day or so until \"all the votes are in\" so to speak, and then award points to the best answer. Once points have been awarded, there is little incentive for other people to propose answers, and if the first answer wouldn\'t have been the best one (had more people responded), a wrong term may... See more I have noticed that many people award Kudoz points immediately to the first answer they get. While it may be a good answer, and they may well use it in their translation, I think they should wait at least a day or so until \"all the votes are in\" so to speak, and then award points to the best answer. Once points have been awarded, there is little incentive for other people to propose answers, and if the first answer wouldn\'t have been the best one (had more people responded), a wrong term may get entered into the glossary.
Would like to hear others\' opinions on this.
Trudy
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| | | | | Ongoing discussion | Nov 29, 2001 |
Trudy, there is an ongoing discussion among the moderators about exactly this problem. It looks that there might be soon a 12h \"block period\", before KUDOZ can be granted, though the length of this time frame is really disputed among the participants.
Problem is recognized by others, too.
| | | | Paul Stevens
Local time: 02:08
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
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| Educate those who pose the questions | Nov 30, 2001 |
Whilst I agree that it is sometimes frustrating when points are awarded very quickly to an answer that may not be the ideal answer, I do not believe that putting a time block on the awarding of points is the answer to this situation.
Moreover, a 12-hour block is, IMHO, a ridiculously long period of time when you look at the number of answers that are often given to questions within even the first half-hour!
There will, of course, be times when certain t... See more Whilst I agree that it is sometimes frustrating when points are awarded very quickly to an answer that may not be the ideal answer, I do not believe that putting a time block on the awarding of points is the answer to this situation.
Moreover, a 12-hour block is, IMHO, a ridiculously long period of time when you look at the number of answers that are often given to questions within even the first half-hour!
There will, of course, be times when certain translators who have acquired many Kudos points will be too busy on their own work to find time to look at the Kudos questions, but why should an asker have to wait to see if one such person might provide a different answer when the asker is happy, in his own mind, with one of the answers that he/she has been given. The asker does, of course, have the prerogative to wait for a number of days, or even weeks (?) before he awards points, even if he/she feels that the correct answer may still have been the first one.
So, from my point of view, if the person who asked the question is sensible in the awarding of points, there is no need whatsoever to impose any time bar. Indeed, as the question asker, you soemtimes know, or have a very strong gut feeling that an answer is right, and this might sometimes be the first one, so why should you wait for subsequent answers, with the corresponding e-mail messages that go with them.
What frustrates me much more is when a person provides an identical translation to an earlier one (often days later) and yet, because his/her explanation may be longer or may provide a web reference or quote (which often does not even relate to the particular question), he/she is often awarded the points. IMHO, unless the second answer provides substantial additional information which is relevant to the specific question, in its context, then I would always award points to the first answer. But, the only way to change this is to educate the asker of the question.
The asker also, I believe, needs to take into account the specific experience of the people offering answers, and the fact that one answer has been agreed by, say, 4 or 5 other translators and another has not been endorsed by any does not mean that the former answer is correct.
By way of example, there was a question a few weeks ago on an insurance term for which I supplied the correct answer. Somebody else then supplied what seemed to be the correct answer and other translators (obviously without any insurance experience) flocked to offer their agreement. As soon as I saw this, I disagreed with this answer and cited my credentials (having worked for nearly 20 years in international insurance broking, with insurance qualifications, etc.). Unfortunately, this had no effect whatsoever on the asker who proceeded to choose the wrong answer, which was obviously his prerogative.
In conclusion, I feel that the main issue is not one of allowing a certain time to elapse before points are awarded, but rather of educating the person setting the question. How this can be done, I don\'t know, unless perhaps a set of guidelines is e-mailed each time a question is asked. Whether certain question askers will ever change the way that they award points, I frankly doubt very much.
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| | | | | Timing is crucial | Nov 30, 2001 |
I basically agree that people should wait a bit instead of awarding points to just any odd answer just because it was the first or fastest. But in my business for example, timing is absolutely crucial and my deadlines are always very tight (usually 2-3 hours, sometimes less than that). So if I get a perfect answer a day or two after posting the question, it is basically worthless for me. I know we learn for life and I might need it for future reference etc., but when you do post a KudoZ question... See more I basically agree that people should wait a bit instead of awarding points to just any odd answer just because it was the first or fastest. But in my business for example, timing is absolutely crucial and my deadlines are always very tight (usually 2-3 hours, sometimes less than that). So if I get a perfect answer a day or two after posting the question, it is basically worthless for me. I know we learn for life and I might need it for future reference etc., but when you do post a KudoZ question you usually do it because you\'re having trouble with the text you\'re translating at this very moment. So, because of this time pressure I also want to \"reward\" people with KudoZ points who take the trouble to reply to my question ASAP even though they might have other - no doubt more important - things to do. Obviously, this does not mean I will award points to answers that are totally unhelpful just because the posters were fast. But if I do get a CORRECT and USEFUL answer when I need it, I won\'t wait for a PERFECT answer that won\'t make it into my translation anyway. ▲ Collapse
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| Wait or not? | Nov 30, 2001 |
Trudy,
I have just asked a few questions, one of them monolingual: the first answer I got was so complete and with such good references that it solved my doubts/problems. I think we cannot generalize about the \"waiting time\" before closing a KudoZ question. I agree we should wait at leat a day, when the question is about a term not contained in a good technical dictionary or difficult to find in Internet, or at least if there\'s no good translation of it in the net. It dep... See more Trudy,
I have just asked a few questions, one of them monolingual: the first answer I got was so complete and with such good references that it solved my doubts/problems. I think we cannot generalize about the \"waiting time\" before closing a KudoZ question. I agree we should wait at leat a day, when the question is about a term not contained in a good technical dictionary or difficult to find in Internet, or at least if there\'s no good translation of it in the net. It depends on the question.
Giuliana
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| | | | | THE POINT OF KUDOZ IS . . . POINTS? | Dec 1, 2001 |
I found myself agreeing with each subsequent comment above. Everybody has a [Kudoz ?]point or two ...
When I was a kid, I was somewhat of a perfectionist. It is one thing to have the tendency, it\'s another to be guided by the urge in one\'s actions for the rest of one\'s life. This is an imperfect world.
As a principle, I dislike external limitations on my choices.
I too like being awar... See more I found myself agreeing with each subsequent comment above. Everybody has a [Kudoz?]point or two ...
When I was a kid, I was somewhat of a perfectionist. It is one thing to have the tendency, it\'s another to be guided by the urge in one\'s actions for the rest of one\'s life. This is an imperfect world.
As a principle, I dislike external limitations on my choices.
I too like being awarded points when \"I know I\'m right\" and get them early.
However, when I pose a question, I AM THE CUSTOMER and I want my answer quickly and I have the freedom to accept an answer of certain quality as perceived (or not perceived) by me.
As a responder, or \"answerer\", I have the perfect freedom to post A BETTER ANSWER late for the benefit of everybody, for sure, and the benefit of the asker, possibly. (I suppose the asker is e-mailed late answers that are posted.) I also have the freedom to e-mail the asker, if he\'s provided his e-mail address, and alert him to the fact there is a \"better mousetrap\".
Therefore, I would think the system works reasonably well.
On the other hand, it seems that at times some askers are awarding only 1 point to the perfect answer. Could this be a cross-cultural communications issue? When I was in school, grade 5 was equivalent to F=fail and 1 was equivalent to A. Has anybody noticed this anywhere else? Frankly, the first time I saw the \"Grade\" button I wasn\'t sure what was going to happen next. When I got there, I personally knew the difference between \"points\" offered as a choice there, and \"grades\" that I thought might be what shows up. I suspect a few outsiders might not be in the position to know the difference. How about a better explanation up front?
Well, I just proved I AM A PERFECTIONIST when challenged.
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| | | | AndrewBM
Ireland
Local time: 02:08
Spanish to English
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| Absolutely agree with the translator of Hašek above. | Dec 1, 2001 |
Just do my job as best as I can - with no view to recognition or anything.
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