| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | What are BrowniZ for, anyway? Can they be \"spent\"? Thread poster: Julia Gal
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Julia Gal 
Local time: 12:59
French to English
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Has anyone worked out what you do with BrowniZ, yet?
On my BrowniZ page it shows the breakdown of how I\'ve earnt them, and that I\'ve spent a total of 0 points, but I\'m still not sure where or how you do spend them...
Does anyone else know?
| | | | | BrowniZ are good for half-off Platinum, free bidding, and more in the future | Oct 23, 2001 |
OK, this is brand new. Only people who have done InstantJobs have been able to take advantage of this so far, but now I am deciding to make the offer generally available.
If you have not yet done an InstantJob, you would have no way of knowing this, but each member of ProZ.com has a ProZ.com \"wallet.\"
To get to your wallet, go to: http://www.proz.com/?sp=wallet/h
... See more OK, this is brand new. Only people who have done InstantJobs have been able to take advantage of this so far, but now I am deciding to make the offer generally available.
If you have not yet done an InstantJob, you would have no way of knowing this, but each member of ProZ.com has a ProZ.com \"wallet.\"
To get to your wallet, go to: http://www.proz.com/?sp=wallet/h
If you have earned at least 6000 BrowniZ points, it is possible, via your ProZ.com wallet, to get Platinum membership for half price.
To do so, you should:
(1) Put at least $60 into your ProZ.com wallet (there are various options for doing this, including secure online payment by credit card.)
(2) Wait a while for the transaction to go through (come back in a half-hour or so)
(3) Buy a platinum membership *using the \"spend\" link in your wallet*. Be sure to selecting the half-price option.
What else can BrowniZ be used for? Starting next year, non-paying members will be asked to pay $1 per bid. In lieu of payment, it will be possible to substitute 100 BrowniZ.
BrowniZ will be applicable in more ways in the future. If you\'ll be at the upcoming ATA conference, stop by the booth to find out what they can be used for.
The rough idea (it will become clearer over time) is that in the ProZ.com \"meritocracy\", you can pay your way towards full membership, and you can also earn your way towards full membership.
Henry ▲ Collapse
| | | | | What are 'InstantJobs' and how to get them? | Oct 23, 2001 |
Quote:
On 2001-10-23 09:51, Henry wrote:
OK, this is brand new. Only people who have done InstantJobs have been able to take advantage of this so far, but now I am deciding to make the offer generally available.
If you have not yet done an InstantJob, you would have no way of knowing this, but each member of ProZ.com has a ProZ.com \"wallet.\"
...
Henry
... See more
Quote:
On 2001-10-23 09:51, Henry wrote:
OK, this is brand new. Only people who have done InstantJobs have been able to take advantage of this so far, but now I am deciding to make the offer generally available.
If you have not yet done an InstantJob, you would have no way of knowing this, but each member of ProZ.com has a ProZ.com \"wallet.\"
...
Henry
I would like to know what are \'InstantJobs\' and how to get them?
Thanks
Kay ▲ Collapse
| | | | | You don't have to do anything special to qualify for InstantJobs | Oct 23, 2001 |
I will explain InstantJobs in another thread, but as for what you can do, InstantJobs find you, not the reverse.
You can increase your chances of being considered by doing the following:
(1) Make sure your profile is complete
(2) If you have industry credentials, report them
(3) Earn KudoZ points
(4) Report job completions
Upgrading your membership level does increase your chances of being considered. However, non-... See more I will explain InstantJobs in another thread, but as for what you can do, InstantJobs find you, not the reverse.
You can increase your chances of being considered by doing the following:
(1) Make sure your profile is complete
(2) If you have industry credentials, report them
(3) Earn KudoZ points
(4) Report job completions
Upgrading your membership level does increase your chances of being considered. However, non-paying members are also invited, after the paying members who quailified have had a chance to accept or decline the assignment.
InstantJobs do not appear in public, so you will not notice any activity. SO I should point out FYI that the number of InstantJobs is not so significant that they are keeping anyone busy right now. We have some plans to increase volume, but can not make any promises at this time. ▲ Collapse
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| What about negative Browniz and Kudoz Etiquette? | Oct 23, 2001 |
This seems the right thread to talk about this idea of negative Browniz (I proposed in another thread). The fact that answers remain open for a long time is one of the small irritants of our great Kudoz system (I will discuss the other later on).
What if Proz.com were to assign negative Browniz to people who cannot spare the minute or so it takes to grade an answer? This would be helpful especially now that Browniz can be used for something like bidding and purchasing Platinum (no... See more This seems the right thread to talk about this idea of negative Browniz (I proposed in another thread). The fact that answers remain open for a long time is one of the small irritants of our great Kudoz system (I will discuss the other later on).
What if Proz.com were to assign negative Browniz to people who cannot spare the minute or so it takes to grade an answer? This would be helpful especially now that Browniz can be used for something like bidding and purchasing Platinum (not Premium, do I understand you correctly?).
I see this as an added incentive to close the questions. The negative Browniz would be deleted the minute the person grades the answer. Also we should remind members that Browniz can be earned by voting answers to open questions. As a moderator, I try to send reminders to askers, but it is quite a job.
The other irritant to Kudoz is the tone used (rarely, let me add) in criticizing answers by others rather than building a positive case for another way of translating the term. Reference can be made to previous answers, but not accusations of non-professionalism, accusation of bad faith in providing the wrong answer or denigrating remarks. There should be no room for this among peers. This is a question that is not so clear cut as not grading answers.
Still I believe that an effort should be made to enforce a short of Kudoz Etiquette. I posted a message a few months ago in our EN>IT SC which I gladly share with you in the next thread.
paola l m
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| | | | | negative browniz - thoughts? | Oct 23, 2001 |
Negative browniz is an interesting idea. Thoughts?
| | | | Werner George Patels, M.A., C.Tran.(ATIO) (X)
Local time: 06:59
German to English
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| I'm with you on that! | Oct 23, 2001 |
Yes, go for it!
It would really make for a nice and efficient incentive to close/grade answers, etc.
| | | | Laura Gentili
Italy
Local time: 12:59
Member (2003)
English to Italian
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| good suggestions! | Oct 24, 2001 |
The idea of negative Brownie points is excellent. I think that during the last year and a half I have answered to hundreds of questions which have remained ungraded. So far there has not been any effective way to convince people to grade the answers. Let\'s try with negative Brownies!
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gianfranco
Brazil
Local time: 07:59
Member (2001)
English to Italian
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| What about BrowniZ negative balance? | Oct 24, 2001 |
I agree with a deduction in BrowniZ at the moment of asking a question, to be reinstated when the question gets graded. That\'s fine and it may help to limit the abuse/not graded questions, but there is a problem.
A member with a large number of BrowniZ can leave many questions ungraded and never go into a negative BrowniZ balance, but members having very few BrowniZ or none at all will go under zero, and then? what happens? will they be barred from asking more questions or ... See more I agree with a deduction in BrowniZ at the moment of asking a question, to be reinstated when the question gets graded. That\'s fine and it may help to limit the abuse/not graded questions, but there is a problem.
A member with a large number of BrowniZ can leave many questions ungraded and never go into a negative BrowniZ balance, but members having very few BrowniZ or none at all will go under zero, and then? what happens? will they be barred from asking more questions or what else?
A new member starting with 0 points will go under immediately, so the system has to be set up in such a way that, at some point, there is a block on the negative balance that can be reached otherwise the deductions are useless.
I suggest the following method:
1. set a fixed amount of BrowniZ deducted per question, let say 10 (just an example)
2. set a threshold negative balance that cannot be passed, for example -50
This system will allow newcomers to start effectively with a 5 questions credit, and after that they will have to close/grade be able to continue. It is not perfect and still open to some abuse, but it is a gentle way of limiting some of the worse serial askers from flooding the site with dozen of ungraded questions and then disappear.
Also, members with many BrowniZ are still capable of abusing the KudoZ system before going under zero. For them the only solution would be a limit on the open/unanswered questions and a block regardless of the total BrowniZ balance. This threshold could be set as a maximum limit for everybody (let say 15-20) and no one should be allowed to threspass this limit.
Abusing the Kudoz shouldn\'t be allowed to anybody, Premium, Platinum or newcomers alike.
Still on this topic, would be possible to see for every registered members, somewhere next to the question, the total number of questions asked, graded and ungraded?
If we see the asker displayed as:
questions: 35
graded : 2
ungraded : 33
some of us we may consider ignoring the question and spend our time helping a colleague more correct.
Gianfranco
[ This Message was edited by: on 2001-10-24 03:13 ] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | no on negative BrowniZ (BlackiZ) | Oct 24, 2001 |
I was recently prompted to grade two questions I had tossed out.
The fact is that since NONE of the answers quite fit what I needed, in that they were not backed by solid references but were simply very educated guesses (and I emphasize \"educated\"). As a result, I ended up posing my doubts to my client, who then took a while to get back to me.
At THAT point, I took the time to grade the two questions I had asked, and ended up selecting the two answers that most closely appr... See more I was recently prompted to grade two questions I had tossed out.
The fact is that since NONE of the answers quite fit what I needed, in that they were not backed by solid references but were simply very educated guesses (and I emphasize \"educated\"). As a result, I ended up posing my doubts to my client, who then took a while to get back to me.
At THAT point, I took the time to grade the two questions I had asked, and ended up selecting the two answers that most closely approached what I needed. Essentially, my KudoZ were to thank those people for their time and effort, and for at least allowing me to give my customer options as to the terms.
From there, I can obviously add these to the glossary because at this point, I have verified the terms with my customer.
This happens with many of us on big or very specific jobs: there can be a long turnover on answers.
However, negative BrowniZ -- which I assume would be posted on a person\'s site alongside KudoZ and real BrowniZ -- would make the person look lazy and inaccurate. This may be true in very isolated cases, but everyone I\'ve encountered at the site is a professional in every sense of the word. A listing of negative BrowniZ (Blackiz may be a better term for a black mark like this) can be highly detrimental if a potential customer visits your page.
Perhaps a better way would be to prevent the non-grader from answering or posting if he or she has failed to grade X answers in a given period of time. Plus a gentle \"nudge\" from Proz (i.e. Henry). ▲ Collapse
| | | | gianfranco
Brazil
Local time: 07:59
Member (2001)
English to Italian
+ ...
| Well, something has to be done.... | Oct 24, 2001 |
The site is growing, there are over 20,000 members and most of them are correct.
Why we should allow a small minority to abuse the system with 30, 40, even 70 questions in a single day, all unanswered?
If we only had 5 members like that, and they all decide to attack on the same day, I bet the result would be that many members would leave the site. It is just not acceptable.
Anyway, you appear to be against the display of the number of questi... See more The site is growing, there are over 20,000 members and most of them are correct.
Why we should allow a small minority to abuse the system with 30, 40, even 70 questions in a single day, all unanswered?
If we only had 5 members like that, and they all decide to attack on the same day, I bet the result would be that many members would leave the site. It is just not acceptable.
Anyway, you appear to be against the display of the number of questions/open questions.
All right.
It was just a thrown in suggestion.
We are still looking for a sensible solution, and one or more combined measures to limit abuses.
In my opinion, already expressed in some other forum, I consider a cap on the questions absolutely necessary. If any translators has a need for so many questions there are alternative ways to solve the problem, for example contacting a colleague and establishing a professional co-operation on that specific assignment.
Many colleagues are available to help and exchange professional services. ProZ is perfect for identifying the best suited colleague.
ProZ or KudoZ questions are not there to be flooded and the system shouldn\'t be open to abuse without any fair defence mechanism.
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| | | | | Display of ungraded questions and negative Browniz | Oct 24, 2001 |
Gianfranco\'s points are well taken, and address the issue within the larger context of Proz.com as a whole.
What I had in mind was that negative browniz would not be applied at the moment one asks a question, rather after the asker has been prompted and failed to grade. It seems fair (we all get busy or go away for a few days).
The askers with a large number of Browniz are usually very active members who contribute to the site regularly, and it is less likely (although very ... See more Gianfranco\'s points are well taken, and address the issue within the larger context of Proz.com as a whole.
What I had in mind was that negative browniz would not be applied at the moment one asks a question, rather after the asker has been prompted and failed to grade. It seems fair (we all get busy or go away for a few days).
The askers with a large number of Browniz are usually very active members who contribute to the site regularly, and it is less likely (although very possible as Gianfranco says) that they would fail to grade. One or two ungraded questions are understandable. 80 ungraded questions are a whole different ball game as you say and may (underline, may) come from members who are less experienced. Since browniz will be used to pay for bids, the non-graders will have to either pay with real money for the bids, or make the effort to give answerers some feedback on the terms they have provided.
The issue of the block was discussed at length in the moderators\' forum, but I don\'t think we came to an agreement. Henry can be more precise on this.
The display of graded/ungraded questions is a good idea that would give answerers an indication as to the willingness on the part of the asker to provide feedback and grading.
paola l m
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Chiara Yates
United States
Local time: 06:59
English to Italian
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| ungraded questions | Oct 24, 2001 |
I agree with the suggestion of specifying next to the asker\'s question the no of questions asked, and the no of questions graded and not graded.. this way we know who grades the questions and we can ingore those who usually don\'t.
As for the Browniz if someone is so worried about negative Browniz showing laziness well, they can grade their questions and the problem wouldn\'t exist!
[addsig]
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On 2001-10-24 01:25, gianfranco wrote:
\"A member with a large number of BrowniZ can leave many questions ungraded and never go into a negative BrowniZ balance, but members having very few BrowniZ or none at all will go under zero, and then? what happens? will they be barred from asking more questions or what else?\"
In answer to this, I would simply like to point out that a person with a large number of BrowniZ is, by definition, a helpful person, who w... See more On 2001-10-24 01:25, gianfranco wrote:
\"A member with a large number of BrowniZ can leave many questions ungraded and never go into a negative BrowniZ balance, but members having very few BrowniZ or none at all will go under zero, and then? what happens? will they be barred from asking more questions or what else?\"
In answer to this, I would simply like to point out that a person with a large number of BrowniZ is, by definition, a helpful person, who would be unlikely to leave a question ungraded for longer than necessary, whereas a person with few or no BrowniZ (unless they had just joined ProZ) would be an unhelpful type of person anyway.
Therefore the \"problem\" brought up here would not arise.
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| | | | | Negative points? no thank you | Oct 24, 2001 |
I do not really see any value in distributing negative points- in my experience, people who regularly contribute to this site are conscientious enough to award points, in most cases even on the same day; should drop-ins forget to give points, I personally would not mind too much. I firmly believe in the value of \"random acts of kindness\". Even if I do not get the points I deserve- so what? On my frequent excursions through the net looking for a particular term for a colleague I have been sid... See more I do not really see any value in distributing negative points- in my experience, people who regularly contribute to this site are conscientious enough to award points, in most cases even on the same day; should drop-ins forget to give points, I personally would not mind too much. I firmly believe in the value of \"random acts of kindness\". Even if I do not get the points I deserve- so what? On my frequent excursions through the net looking for a particular term for a colleague I have been sidetracked many times and often enough discovered many other interesting things(not only new terms)- definitely a benefit that nobody has mentioned yet. Philosophically speaking,it really comes down to whether or not you are willing to help without expecting anything in return!
johanna ▲ Collapse
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