| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Would you use a "Not sure" tag (or similar) when you aren't able to help with a particular question? Thread poster: Henry Dotterer
|
|---|
neilmac wrote:
In fact, many of my suggestions in kudoz queries are simply inspired guesses or shots in the dark. I'm the kind of person who prefers to try to propose a solution rather than just give up. "I'm not sure but…" could be the lead-in to many of my proposals.
The confidence level is there to indicate that, so I don't think there is a need for an extra feature for that.
(I am not sure what your post was in response to, so maybe I misunderstood.)
| | | | | Tricky questions in KudoZ | Jan 23, 2020 |
A few comments (inserted into your post):
Henry Dotterer wrote:
Hi folks,
As you know, communities have developed around the various language pairs and specialty areas of KudoZ. We know that sometimes a person who has asked a question, after some time has passed, may wonder whether or not a certain other person has had an opportunity to visit the question.
How about a function to call a certain person to a question, sort of "tagging" a person - somehow sending an alert to him/her? (Of course, only if the target person allows for such alerts - in his/her profile settings.)
This gives me an idea. If there were a "like button"-type button that says something like "I don't know that term", or "I'm not sure how to translate that", or "Beats me", or "?", or whatever, would you use it? In other words, would it be useful to know that Amir, and Dan, and Geneve, and so-and-so, have all visited the page and don't immediately know the term?
So, for this one, I think the main question is - what is the purpose? I don't see the point of clicking a button for "I don't know that term", or "I'm not sure how to translate that", - why would anyone announce that they don't know something? It might be beneficial for someone who just wants their name to be included on as many pages as possible for search purposes, but I would like to hope that ProZ is not about encouraging that sort of "activity". KudoZ is about helping the asker, and it should not be littered with stuff that does not serve that purpose.
If someone wants to know how "popular" their question is, then maybe include a visitor-count (as suggested before), but please do not go down on the path of popular social media. This site is different, and we value that.
Now, there is ONE thing in your idea, that kind of rings a bell for me. This part: "Beats me"
Long time ago, in a far away galaxy...
So, when I was part of a fairly small, close-knit working group of moderators, (again, long time ago, when ProZ was young), we discussed the idea of being able to mark a KudoZ question as "Good question!" This was going to be a voting-kind of thing - I am not sure how many votes were needed to mark a question like that, but the purpose was to identify questions that are really tricky, and require very specific knowledge or research skills, or there is something else that makes it difficult to figure out.
I am not sure why the idea did not get implemented, because as far as I remember, it was liked by many (including perhaps, you, Henry, too), but maybe it is time to revisit it.
That designation could serve the purpose that nielmac referred to as "It lets me know that it's not my ignorance that is the problem, and helps dispel any self-doubt that might hamper the process."
It could also serve other purposes after the question is solved - for example, questions marked as "Good Question!" may be excellent candidates for Glossary-building KudoZ questions into other languages (and help with search results for ProZ as a whole).
Related, would there be value in an "I'm working on it" button?
I don't think so. I think the cons outweigh the pros. I feel it would encourage competitiveness and create an opportunity for people to argue about who was the fastest to answer, and lead to abuse. I have the same feeling about a "Claim" button or something suggested by someone else.
In general, I think there is a lot of temptation to introduce new functionality, new buttons, and follow social media-like trends, but I think it is important to keep in mind who the users are, and what the purpose of the site and the specific page is.
Especially when there are other functionality that has been requested repeatedly, because of its usefulness (or because of the inconveniences their absence causes).
Katalin
[Edited at 2020-01-23 21:28 GMT]
| | | | Barbara Carrara 
Italy
Local time: 02:40
Member (2008)
English to Italian
+ ...
| Re. Other things that need to be fixed | Jan 24, 2020 |
Henry Dotterer wrote:
Thanks for your feedback! Trying to do one thing at a time... limiting my response to KudoZ, can you think of something to do about the '.' / '*' issue?
I am sure your people can sort this out.
In fact, I contacted Support about this on two occasions, on 6 February 2018 (in his reply, your mod wrote 'Maybe a message could be added to make the purpose of this box more explicit if it is not being readily understood by site users'), and again on 19 March 2019 (in it, I also included another request: to check if possible to trace one's own references to KudoZ postings, to keep track of the reference links and suchlike provided over time. In the reply I received at the time, your mod informed me that they 'added them to our list of ideas and suggestions for site improvement, to be evaluated for possible future implementation.').
Nothing has been done to date.
I don't see us going through the process of expanding the number of fields (which has implications on jobs, too) at this particular moment.
To me, this doesn't look like a major issue, technically speaking. Or is it? And it is precisely because when quoting for jobs, the fact that many fields are missing from the list, contributes to the 'fogginess' of the info provided in some job posts.
In my experience, in more than one instance I had to contact the potential client /using the Submit Quote button) to inquire about the specific field or nature of a job. As a result, my queries ended up in a 'your quote has been rejected' message, even though I had not quoted for the assignments because of the lack of information in the original post.
Perhaps, you could add a button of sorts, in case more information is required from the job poster prior to submitting one's quote.
Still hoping the above can be implemented at some point in the (near?) future.
Thanks.
| | | | | Thanks, Barbara | Jan 24, 2020 |
Barbara Carrara wrote: Henry Dotterer wrote:
Thanks for your feedback! Trying to do one thing at a time... limiting my response to KudoZ, can you think of something to do about the '.' / '*' issue? I am sure your people can sort this out. In fact, I contacted Support about this on two occasions, on 6 February 2018 (in his reply, your mod wrote 'Maybe a message could be added to make the purpose of this box more explicit if it is not being readily understood by site users'), and again on 19 March 2019 (in it, I also included another request: to check if possible to trace one's own references to KudoZ postings, to keep track of the reference links and suchlike provided over time. In the reply I received at the time, your mod informed me that they 'added them to our list of ideas and suggestions for site improvement, to be evaluated for possible future implementation.'). Nothing has been done to date.
Not sure the part about making the purpose of the box clear relates. The recent complaint, if I have understood it, is that answerers are entering '.' or '*' instead of providing more explanation for their proposed translations. I don't think the problem is that answerers do not understand that the box is for providing more explanation. On the contrary, I think that they have understood that explanation is being called for, and by entering '-' or the like, they are bypassing the requirement. I don't know what, if anything, should be done about that. Your suggestion about tracking reference links relates, but I don't think it will stop people from entering '*'. (Do you?)
I wonder whether it would be better to simply stop requiring any explanation. Then we could just show the proposed translation on its own. To combine this with your proposal, then we could track something like the percent of time you provide explanation. (Now it is 100%... but not really.)
I don't see us going through the process of expanding the number of fields (which has implications on jobs, too) at this particular moment.
To me, this doesn't look like a major issue, technically speaking. Or is it?
Yes, it is non-trivial and doesn't fit into our current development round.
And it is precisely because when quoting for jobs, the fact that many fields are missing from the list, contributes to the 'fogginess' of the info provided in some job posts.
In my experience, in more than one instance I had to contact the potential client /using the Submit Quote button) to inquire about the specific field or nature of a job. As a result, my queries ended up in a 'your quote has been rejected' message, even though I had not quoted for the assignments because of the lack of information in the original post.
Point taken.
Perhaps, you could add a button of sorts, in case more information is required from the job poster prior to submitting one's quote.
Good idea. I'll keep it in mind for when we do this all again with jobs.
| | |
|
|
|
Germaine
Canada
Local time: 20:40
English to French
+ ...
| "Working on it" | Jan 24, 2020 |
David Lin wrote:
It's a "Yes" for "Working on it" because as an Asker, to know who is "working on it" and how many are working on my question will help me plan ahead to complete my translation job.
I often spend quite a lot of time researching some notions/terms. If I were the asker, it would be reassuring to know that a competent colleague is working to provide me with an adequate answer, especially if I'm on a rush!
| | | |
Claiming
... allow answerers to claim a place in the "first answer" list.
Another nice idea! I'd like to hear others' opinions on this one. [/quote]
I'm all for it: sounds like a very useful idea.
| | | | B D Finch
France
Local time: 02:40
French to English
+ ...
| Claiming vs working on it | Jan 25, 2020 |
I'm against the idea of being able to claim a place in the KudoZ answerers' queue, because it encourages the sort of competitive attitude that leads to unpleasantness and prioritising "winning" over being helpful to the asker and subsequent KOG users. How on earth would you stop people cheating, e.g. by claiming a place, waiting to see suggestions and then copying a suggestion or answer submitted by someone else, but with an extra reference?
The "working on it" idea is a better one,... See more I'm against the idea of being able to claim a place in the KudoZ answerers' queue, because it encourages the sort of competitive attitude that leads to unpleasantness and prioritising "winning" over being helpful to the asker and subsequent KOG users. How on earth would you stop people cheating, e.g. by claiming a place, waiting to see suggestions and then copying a suggestion or answer submitted by someone else, but with an extra reference?
The "working on it" idea is a better one, as the Asker might want to wait for the person working on it, before delivering their translation or before selecting an answer. On the other hand, if the asker chose not to wait, the person "working on it" might well be hurt/offended. Personally, there are people I'd wait for and others I wouldn't, but I wouldn't like to tell the latter who they are. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Pages in topic: < [1 2] | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Would you use a "Not sure" tag (or similar) when you aren't able to help with a particular question? | CafeTran Espresso | You've never met a CAT tool this clever!
Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer.
Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools.
Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free
Buy now! » |
| | Trados Studio 2022 Freelance | The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.
Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop
and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
