| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] | We need a better - or more honest - Blue Board system Thread poster: Astrid Elke Witte
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Angela Dickson (X) 
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:52
French to English
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Marie-Hélène Hayles wrote:
I strongly believe that anonymity would be detrimental to the system. As a more general consideration, wouldn't you give more weight to a rating from someone you knew and respected professionally than one from someone you'd never heard of? This can be very important when checking up on outsourcers who only have a handful of WWA scores.[Edited at 2008-11-11 10:39]
Absolutely. I don't think anonymity would be useful. On one occasion, I accepted a job from an agency despite the fact that the most recent WWA on the blue board for them was a 1 - I recognised the translator's name and had noted from forum contributions here and elsewhere that this person would probably be quite difficult to work with. All the other WWA values were 5, and some came from people I knew and trusted.
| | | | | I could do that but... | Nov 11, 2008 |
Ralf Lemster wrote: Hi Wilmer,
I agree that the current BB doesn't work.
I beg to differ. It's not a perfect system, but in more than five years of of moderating Jobs & BB we have seen quite a number of cases where it does work. I was even called by an agency I gave a four. They put a lot of pressure on me to change what I said and to give them a five. I don't understand this because technically a four is still a really good rating for an agency that pays after almost three months.
Don't hesitate to contact staff (via a Support Request) or a Jobs/BB moderator - we will follow up with outsourcers attempting to exert pressure. Best regards, Ralf
Thanks for our reply Ralf. You are right that the BB does work in some cases and it has saved me a number of times from accepting work from bad payers. The BB is a good tool to recognize really bad clients, but I do think that there might be ways to improve the system so a five is more than just an indication that the client will pay eventually and that translators give a five because they are saving the agency as a backup when all the other clients don't have any work. I could for example follow your suggestion but it would only make the agency dislike me more. It would not really help me or other translators or the agency if I do that. Because they made such a problem of my four I know this agency does care for their image, so if I could indicate with a number how many days it takes them to pay after the job was handed in this would hopefully start competition between agencies in that area. If it doesn't have that effect it will still help translators to make a better decision based on more than just all the fives an agency has.
| | | | Astrid Elke Witte
Germany
Local time: 01:52
Member (2002)
German to English
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TOPIC STARTER | Differentiation of uses of anonymity | Nov 12, 2008 |
I don't think anyone at all has suggested so far that the main Blue Board entry made by a translator, i.e. the numerical grading along with the comment, should be anonymous. I, for one, also find it extremely helpful to see who made the entry. I also do not see any other person in this thread having suggested anonymity in this respect so far.
The anonymity would only concern the additional - extra - information, i.e. boxes being ticked about the payment terms extended and whether th... See more I don't think anyone at all has suggested so far that the main Blue Board entry made by a translator, i.e. the numerical grading along with the comment, should be anonymous. I, for one, also find it extremely helpful to see who made the entry. I also do not see any other person in this thread having suggested anonymity in this respect so far.
The anonymity would only concern the additional - extra - information, i.e. boxes being ticked about the payment terms extended and whether the invoice was paid on time or not, and, if not, how late it was paid.
To return to the e-Bay analogy, e-Bay entries are not anonymous either. It is shown who made an entry. Of course, the e-Bay names are also pseudonyms, but, when you conduct a business transaction on e-Bay, you know the pseudonym of the other party! It is therefore possible, as with our Blue Board, for one person to make an entry and for the other (whether it conforms to the rules or not) to reciprocate.
However, e-Bay then has some additional - extra - boxes, where the person who made the entry that he or she can be seen to have made can provide information on how timely delivery of the goods was, and so on. Only this additional information is anonymous.
What is being suggested here is also that only the additional information is anonymous, for reasons of making it accurate.
In addition, since the additional information would relate to individual invoices, it needs to be possible to enter it more often, and not only once a year, so essentially it has to be somewhat separate from the main Blue Board entry, which is a once-per-year entry.
Astrid ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Any level of anonymity would be detrimental | Nov 12, 2008 |
I think BB is a formal endorsement or warning. Anyone unwilling to let it out that they ever worked for such agency has the freedom to hold their silence.
Quite often I see an outsourcer with a 4.* rating, so I check the 1s and 2s they got. If these were given by non-paying Proz users whose only information available on their profile is that nondescript nick, and their comment reads like "I writed they many email, and still they not payed to mine self", I just disregard it.... See more I think BB is a formal endorsement or warning. Anyone unwilling to let it out that they ever worked for such agency has the freedom to hold their silence.
Quite often I see an outsourcer with a 4.* rating, so I check the 1s and 2s they got. If these were given by non-paying Proz users whose only information available on their profile is that nondescript nick, and their comment reads like "I writed they many email, and still they not payed to mine self", I just disregard it.
On the other hand, anonymity could lead outsourcers - especially those with average score ▲ Collapse
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