Poll: Have you already voted in the ProZ.com community choice awards?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Aug 6, 2016

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you already voted in the ProZ.com community choice awards?"

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You can vote here!


 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 11:40
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No! Aug 6, 2016

I don't intend to vote, as the nominations seem rather arbitrary.

 
Ana Vozone
Ana Vozone  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:40
Member (2010)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No... Aug 6, 2016

And I do not intend to.

Why? Because one of your criteria "Nominees who receive a certain number of nominations move to the voting stage." seems to allow for a rigging of the vote (just ask a few 'friends' to vote for you) while not ensuring that participants fulfill minimum requirements in terms of quality and professionalism, or even a decent track record in terms of a presence on Proz (Kudoz, Polls, Forum discussions).

So I am forced to say that, although the vast m
... See more
And I do not intend to.

Why? Because one of your criteria "Nominees who receive a certain number of nominations move to the voting stage." seems to allow for a rigging of the vote (just ask a few 'friends' to vote for you) while not ensuring that participants fulfill minimum requirements in terms of quality and professionalism, or even a decent track record in terms of a presence on Proz (Kudoz, Polls, Forum discussions).

So I am forced to say that, although the vast majority of entrants are clearly and undeniably highly competent and probably deserve to win the contest, the fact that one managed to be nominated in spite of their own (i.e., not independently confirmed) ridiculous claims about their achievements prevents me from voting.

These criteria should be reviewed/changed in the future to prevent this situation from happening again.

After all, Proz is for professionals!



[Edited at 2016-08-06 09:33 GMT]
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Jennifer Forbes
Jennifer Forbes  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:40
French to English
+ ...
In memoriam
I'd like to vote but ... Aug 6, 2016

... none of the candidates are known to me in any way and the categories don't mean much to me either, so I don't feel qualified to vote.
One year, a category for something like "the most helpful contributor to forums" was introduced, on my suggestion, I think, but that category isn't included this time.


 
inkweaver
inkweaver  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 12:40
French to German
+ ...
No Aug 6, 2016

Not interested in the least, sorry.

 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 08:40
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In memoriam
No - after the outcome of the last Proz Translation Contest Aug 6, 2016

After the outcome of the last Proz translation contest, I'm not voting at Proz any more.

My last post on that matter was See more
After the outcome of the last Proz translation contest, I'm not voting at Proz any more.

My last post on that matter was http://www.proz.com/forum/prozcom_translation_contests/277633-translation_contest_celebrations_congratulations_to_the_first_round_of_winners-page4.html#2568605
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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 11:40
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
That's right! Aug 6, 2016

José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:

After the outcome of the last Proz translation contest, I'm not voting at Proz any more.

My last post on that matter was http://www.proz.com/forum/prozcom_translation_contests/277633-translation_contest_celebrations_congratulations_to_the_first_round_of_winners-page4.html#2568605


How could I have forgotten THAT and all the deafening silence that followed…


 
Mario Chavez (X)
Mario Chavez (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 07:40
English to Spanish
+ ...
Ego-feeding contests Aug 6, 2016

Some Millenial professionals seem to be susceptible to this kind of artificial competition. Otherwise respectable colleagues have posted on Twitter and LinkedIn Vote for my blog, please as if visibility in social media and/or the Web were all about a popularity contest conducive to higher standards for our profession.

Idiotic and narcissistic.

What's next? Proz-sponsored calendar photos of studmuffins or gorgeous lady translators?

Enough with this, p
... See more
Some Millenial professionals seem to be susceptible to this kind of artificial competition. Otherwise respectable colleagues have posted on Twitter and LinkedIn Vote for my blog, please as if visibility in social media and/or the Web were all about a popularity contest conducive to higher standards for our profession.

Idiotic and narcissistic.

What's next? Proz-sponsored calendar photos of studmuffins or gorgeous lady translators?

Enough with this, please.
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Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 08:40
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
One access Aug 6, 2016

I voted for a friend who asked for a vote. Never saw it again, and do not intend to.

 
Christel Zipfel
Christel Zipfel  Identity Verified
Local time: 12:40
Member (2004)
Italian to German
+ ...
Agree 2:-) Aug 6, 2016

Teresa Borges wrote:

José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:

After the outcome of the last Proz translation contest, I'm not voting at Proz any more.

My last post on that matter was http://www.proz.com/forum/prozcom_translation_contests/277633-translation_contest_celebrations_congratulations_to_the_first_round_of_winners-page4.html#2568605


How could I have forgotten THAT and all the deafening silence that followed…


Yes, THIS will prevent me forever from voting again at ProZ in similar occasions. Never again! Maybe we would risk to wait ages for the results in this case, too. No, thank you.


 
Anthony Baldwin
Anthony Baldwin  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:40
Portuguese to English
+ ...
Voting in the what? Aug 6, 2016

I must say, this is the first I've even heard of it.

 
Ilan Rubin (X)
Ilan Rubin (X)  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 14:40
Russian to English
Ditto Aug 6, 2016

svenfrade wrote:

Not interested in the least, sorry.


Me neither.

PROZ: keep things simple and focused. Stop trying to take over the world.

The winners are those that:

- make the most money
- make a living while enjoying the most leisure time
- gain the most intellectual satisfaction from their job
- etc, etc [take your pick]


 
Paulo Caldeira
Paulo Caldeira  Identity Verified
Portugal
English to Portuguese
+ ...
That's funny. Aug 7, 2016

I say what I always have to say:

1. I am not allowed to help on translations of the Proz site since the portuguese poll is "full".
2. I was the guy with less negative votes in 4 pairs for that contest "celebrations"
3. I don't use the Kudoz "ego" and I see mistakes and errors (dozens of them) being voted as right!
4. I see people from Brazil taking jobs from portuguese native and selling their services as portuguese (european? what is this?)
5. I don't run an
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I say what I always have to say:

1. I am not allowed to help on translations of the Proz site since the portuguese poll is "full".
2. I was the guy with less negative votes in 4 pairs for that contest "celebrations"
3. I don't use the Kudoz "ego" and I see mistakes and errors (dozens of them) being voted as right!
4. I see people from Brazil taking jobs from portuguese native and selling their services as portuguese (european? what is this?)
5. I don't run an agency and use a profile as freelance.
6. I don't use feedbacks from friends and other things to increase "feedbacks"
7. I am not a member of associations with 15 members.

I am nominated for 4 categories? Yes. I am.

Do I think to win? NO!

Have I voted: yes!

Did I see (still don't see) certain members writing here talking about the Celebrations contest before this? NO

I am a new paying member? I AM!

So what? When the Celebrations Contest took place I wasn't and until now I am waiting for awnsers.

Where were some of you?

Have a great vacations.

I have work.

That's what matter to me.

It seems that some of the non-voting persons prefer rankings...if have time to do "glossaries" with one word.
http://www.proz.com/translator-directory/

[Editado em 2016-08-07 07:57 GMT]
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Michael Harris
Michael Harris  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 12:40
Member (2006)
German to English
Same here Aug 7, 2016

Anthony Baldwin wrote:

I must say, this is the first I've even heard of it.


 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 08:40
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In memoriam
A truly personal POV, merely for the record Aug 7, 2016

Teresa Borges wrote:

José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:

After the outcome of the last Proz translation contest, I'm not voting at Proz any more.

My last post on that matter was http://www.proz.com/forum/prozcom_translation_contests/277633-translation_contest_celebrations_congratulations_to_the_first_round_of_winners-page4.html#2568605


How could I have forgotten THAT and all the deafening silence that followed…


Mario Chavez wrote:

Idiotic and narcissistic.


Merely for the record...

Why did I bother to open the morgue drawer containing the "Celebrations" translation contest?

Because it would have had a special, personal meaning to me.

I began translating EN < > PT in 1973, as part of my assignments being a full-time employee in a sequence of four companies. I recall having translated IT > PT one 120-page manual. I used FR only for one day with a foreign visitor. Amazingly, in the last of these companies, I organized five events; four of them with massive attendance of participants from ES-speaking countries who couldn't understand PT (which has a few extra sounds on top of theirs, that's why), and the last one in a ES-speaking country. So I learned by osmosis to speak ES quite fluently, in spite of never having studied it formally (which makes me illiterate in it).

In 1987 - hence long before globalization via Internet - I became a freelance translator. No idea why, but in some way I misled myself into thinking that a translator working in a language pair must be equally qualified to do it in BOTH directions. So I made two decisions: a) I'd constantly work on developing my "reverse gear" translating skills, i.e. PT > EN; and b) I would NOT invest time and effort to further develop skills in my "lesser" languages (IT/FR/ES), relinquishing translation from them.

Decision (a) paid off in 1999 when I took the Brazilian government exam for sworn translators. Some colleagues who burned the midnight oil studying for it failed, while I merely did a veni, vidi, vici act after a good night's sleep.

After the Internet globalization took place, decision (b) caused some puzzlement. I gradually became aware that a considerable number of people eked out a living as EN < > PT translators with a strikingly inferior command of either language than I had in my abandoned languages trio.

When the Celebrations contest came up, I had more available time than usually, so I decided to try my hand translating from one of the forlorn languages into each of my two working ones.

In one of them, there were many contestants, so I didn't make it to the finals. However I did have fewer "dislikes" than any of the three finalists. In the other, there were fewer contestants, and I stood a chance of winning. The high number of "likes" (which I interpret as particularly clever solutions) could justify it. This feedback was quite surprising to me.

If I won, would I start translating from these other languages? At my age, definitely NO! However it's always fun to see a champ in one sport winning any prize whatsoever in another.


Back to the original issue, after Proz's "thundering silence" that ensued the overwhelming 2,000+ participants' Celebrations contest, I see no point in playing a game where nobody could care less about the score. Back in the 1980s, once I hit a winning streak at poker (offline, of course!), and won some $2 million from my Apple II computer. Of course, I had nowhere to collect that dough from, but it was refreshing to see that score. Yet, in our present case... chances are that there will be nothing to see.


 


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Poll: Have you already voted in the ProZ.com community choice awards?






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