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So why doesnt Proz allow users to comment about price dumpers?
Thread poster: sdvplatt
sdvplatt
sdvplatt
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Please respomd to Bernhards post Sep 10, 2015

He encapsulated much of what i was trying to say perfectly
Thanks muchly



Enrique Cavalitto wrote:

deutschenglisch wrote:

from wikipedia (had to do this quick)
An ad hominem (Latin for "to the man" or "to the person"[1]), short for argumentum ad hominem, means responding to arguments by attacking a person's character, rather than addressing the content of their arguments. When used inappropriately, it is a fallacy in which a claim or argument is dismissed on the basis of some irrelevant fact or supposition about the author or the person being criticized
******

It calls your objectivity into question not your character as such I dont even know who you are-

it is reasonable to expect that in your role, you are not in a position to comment freely on matters which would imply criticism of your employers.



I would say, based on my free will and under no pressure from ProZ.com's owner, that when you write:
    "it is reasonable to expect that in your role, you are not in a position to comment freely on matters which would imply criticism of your employers."

... you are dismissing my argument on the basis of some irrelevant fact or supposition about my person (that I am not free to comment on policies I have helped develop in almost 10 years of working at ProZ.com).

You start a thread asking a question about ProZ.com's policies.
  • If nobody from staff answered, you could have complained about a lack of response.

  • When someone from staff replies, you dismiss the replay because staff is suspect of lack of freedom.

Puzzling!

Regards,
Enrique


 
sdvplatt
sdvplatt
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it never ends.. Sep 11, 2015

[quote]Dan Lucas wrote:

deutschenglisch wrote:
its a question of how much you feel the stock market is just a (state-engineered) racket.

Having actually worked in the stock market it seemed to me that the participants and the (state-backed) regulators were in opposition, rather than in cahoots, and that regulatory scrutiny was intense. But I probably only think that because that's what the Illuminati want me to think, right?

No.
In terms of regulation, think about Reagan/Thatcher and and the steady deregulation of the financial markets. What have been done since 2008? Who have regulators like the SFO brought to justice since 2008?
You are free to believe what you want. What do I care?
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion after all and I mean that sincerely.
Do I mention the illumanti? Did I bring up the Bible? Am I being an extremist or a fanatic by offering a different opinion or is it just your way of trying to discredit opposition to your mainstream view?
I'll let others decide


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 21:26
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English to Afrikaans
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@Simon Sep 11, 2015

deutschenglisch wrote:
I wasn't allowed to flag a company for being a very low payer.


1. Something just occurred to me: when you use the word "allow", do you mean "giving permission" or "giving the opportunity"? I realise that "allow" in computerese is often used in the second sense, e.g. "the app allows you to do X" (i.e. not "the app gives you permission to do X" but rather "the app makes it possible for you to do X"). When you say that ProZ.com does not "allow" you to do that, do you simply mean that there is currently no possibility or functionality to do so, or that ProZ.com has specifically forbidden it somewhere?

2. Do you propose some kind of system in which translators can post the rates that they received from translation agencies (presumably without revealing the identity of the translator)? I suppose in such a feature the agencies could be listed in one very long list, sorted by average rate. And although the list would be sorted by average rate, the individual rate submissions for each agency would also be in the list (e.g. for agencies that have offered more than one rate).

I wonder where the data for such a list might come from. You can get the information from job posts on various translator job sites (if the TOS of those sites allow it). You can also ask translators to post information that agencies told them personally (if they regard such information as non-confidential). You'd also have to find a way to verify (or partially verify) that the submitted information is accurate, especially if you allow anonymous submissions or submissions in which the identity of the submitter is not revealed to visitors.

I doubt that ProZ.com would implement such a feature, because I don't think agencies would want to be graded on a list whose only criterion is the offered rate, and if it becomes known that ProZ.com encourages translators to rank agencies on such a list, ProZ.com will lose agency users (including those who offer average of above average rates), which in turn will be less beneficial for us.

I think the biggest problem with such a system is that the information for any given agency is likely to get skewed towards low rates. Why? Because it is more likely that translators who have encountered low rates will submit information to such a list. If an agency offers a range of rates (and most of them do), mostly only their low rates will get submitted to the list.




[Edited at 2015-09-11 08:51 GMT]


 
sdvplatt
sdvplatt
United Kingdom
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Yes very genuine concerns Sep 11, 2015

By allow I mean I should be able to make a BB entry saying this company offered/paid me this amount and I took the trouble to flag it.
In much the same way as someone who do a BB lookup before starting work with a company they could also check what sort of rates they typically offer.
Yes, it would be an average.
As with WWA - clients would encourage their freelancers to post higher rates to keep up their mean/median. It wouldnt be just negative publicity.
I dont think i
... See more
By allow I mean I should be able to make a BB entry saying this company offered/paid me this amount and I took the trouble to flag it.
In much the same way as someone who do a BB lookup before starting work with a company they could also check what sort of rates they typically offer.
Yes, it would be an average.
As with WWA - clients would encourage their freelancers to post higher rates to keep up their mean/median. It wouldnt be just negative publicity.
I dont think it would need to cover every single subject area.
After all I only complained when a company offered around 50% of the market rate not if it was a few cents lower.

Sometimes non-confidentially is just a form of control.
This culture will have to be relaxed if any progress is going to be made in this industry.
Data is setting people free elsewhere in the economy..

Translation should be done online anyway preferably via some open source portal..then it could all be kept and displayed with agencies ranked based on ethical criteria such as fair price




Samuel Murray wrote:

deutschenglisch wrote:
I wasn't allowed to flag a company for being a very low payer.


1. Something just occurred to me: when you use the word "allow", do you mean "giving permission" or "giving the opportunity"? I realise that "allow" in computerese is often used in the second sense, e.g. "the app allows you to do X" (i.e. not "the app gives you permission to do X" but rather "the app makes it possible for you to do X"). When you say that ProZ.com does not "allow" you to do that, do you simply mean that there is currently no possibility or functionality to do so, or that ProZ.com has specifically forbidden it somewhere?

2. Do you propose some kind of system in which translators can post the rates that they received from translation agencies (presumably without revealing the identity of the translator)? I suppose in such a feature the agencies could be listed in one very long list, sorted by average rate. And although the list would be sorted by average rate, the individual rate submissions for each agency would also be in the list (e.g. for agencies that have offered more than one rate).

I wonder where the data for such a list might come from. You can get the information from job posts on various translator job sites (if the TOS of those sites allow it). You can also ask translators to post information that agencies told them personally (if they regard such information as non-confidential). You'd also have to find a way to verify (or partially verify) that the submitted information is accurate, especially if you allow anonymous submissions or submissions in which the identity of the submitter is not revealed to visitors.

I doubt that ProZ.com would implement such a feature, because I don't think agencies would want to be graded on a list whose only criterion is the offered rate, and if it becomes known that ProZ.com encourages translators to rank agencies on such a list, ProZ.com will lose agency users (including those who offer average of above average rates), which in turn will be less beneficial for us.

I think the biggest problem with such a system is that the information for any given agency is likely to get skewed towards low rates. Why? Because it is more likely that translators who have encountered low rates will submit information to such a list. If an agency offers a range of rates (and most of them do), mostly only their low rates will get submitted to the list.




[Edited at 2015-09-11 08:51 GMT]
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Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
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Danish to English
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It is impossible to give anyone a 'fair trial' on an open forum. Sep 11, 2015

Generally people complain about a 'price dumper' far more quickly than they raise a fanfare for a client who pays well and is generally helpful.

Some agencies operate - fairly and with respect for their translators - in countries where the cost of living is low. That does not mean they are price dumpers, although their rates tend to be far lower, on the face of things, than agencies for instance in Northern Europe or Scandinavia, where taxes and the cost of living are high, and rate
... See more
Generally people complain about a 'price dumper' far more quickly than they raise a fanfare for a client who pays well and is generally helpful.

Some agencies operate - fairly and with respect for their translators - in countries where the cost of living is low. That does not mean they are price dumpers, although their rates tend to be far lower, on the face of things, than agencies for instance in Northern Europe or Scandinavia, where taxes and the cost of living are high, and rates have to follow.

Once an outsourcer has been mentioned as a price dumper, it is very hard to prove the opposite.

For that reason the Blue Board draws attention to the most recent ratings given to outsourcers, because they can swing in both directions. Even the best agencies can be bought up or grow too fast, and then deteriorate. Others who made a shaky start find their feet, learn from their mistakes, and become good partners to work with.

The histories on the Blue Board are often interesting.

You can - briefly - explain why you have given a particular rating, and you can comment about price dumpers there.
The outsourcer can respond briefly, and defend themselves if necessary.

So in fact you CAN comment on price dumpers, just not in the forums.
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Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
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@Simon and @Christine Sep 11, 2015

deutschenglisch wrote:
By "allow" I mean I should be able to make a BB entry saying this company offered/paid me this amount and I took the trouble to flag it.


Aah, well then I must point out that I think at least some of the readers of this thread may have misunderstood you right from the beginning.

If I understand correctly, your suggestion is that either:
(a) the Blue Board allows translators to post ratings of agencies that they haven't worked for, or
(b) ProZ.com create another board (e.g. the Purple Board) in which agencies can be rated by anyone, based on information that is publicly known about them or information that turned up during negotiations with them.

In much the same way as someone who do a BB lookup before starting work with a company, they could also check what sort of rates they typically offer.


I agree that it would be very nice to see what range of rates an agency offers, but I think that since rates are determined by many factors, such an indication may not be useful (it may even cause unrealistic expectations).

Sometimes non-confidentially is just a form of control.


There are those who take confidentiality seriously, even if nothing was signed. It's a form of "self control".

==

Christine Andersen wrote:
Some agencies operate - fairly and with respect for their translators - in countries where the cost of living is low.


This is not relevant to Simon's issue -- his example agency is in Germany.

So in fact you CAN comment on price dumpers, just not in the forums.


You can only comment on price dumpers (in the Blue Board) if you have accepted their dump prices at least once.



[Edited at 2015-09-11 10:07 GMT]


 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
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English to Portuguese
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In memoriam
Here I go again Sep 11, 2015

This must be the umpteenth time I'll be suggesting the same specific change/shift/improvement to the Proz Blue Board concept, benchmarking with another translation portal.

My proposal was/is to make the Blue Board objective.

For the record, I would work for ANY client, even if their composite LWA were 0, provided they paid me my standard rates with cash in advance. So the idea of "likelihood" doesn't help much in
... See more
This must be the umpteenth time I'll be suggesting the same specific change/shift/improvement to the Proz Blue Board concept, benchmarking with another translation portal.

My proposal was/is to make the Blue Board objective.

For the record, I would work for ANY client, even if their composite LWA were 0, provided they paid me my standard rates with cash in advance. So the idea of "likelihood" doesn't help much in terms of objectivity.

If translators were asked objective, factual, Y/N questions, like:
a) Was the assignment clearly and unequivocally explained?
b) Were the negotiated rates within your acceptable range?
c) Was the turnaround time feasible?
d) Did you get paid within the mutually agreed time/method/amount?
e) Would you work for them again under the same terms & conditions?
... there would be no room for disputes, or blackmail of the "gimme a LWA=5 today, in order to get your long-outstanding invoice paid by Friday next week" kind.

The current BB rating (e) would represent 20% of the new version.

Of course, the answer to (b) would be "weighted" by country. It would have a different meaning, depending on the translator who gave being located, say, in Western Europe or in the Far East.

I understand Proz's position as "the messenger" pleading not to be killed. They can't merely screen out lowballers on a whim, since rates may vary sharply from one country to another; there are no universal criteria for rates.

Over time, this would make the BB worth the Proz subscription cost, even for those old-timers who downgraded from paying members to free users, on account of no longer valuing the cost/benefit ratio offered.

For Proz, it would be a safe option. If a translator makes a statement of FACTS supported by evidence (e.g. PO/e-mails, invoice, payment) that may be produced, if required, there is no way Proz can be liable for publishing that translator's report of the facts.
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Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
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@José Sep 11, 2015

José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
a) Was the assignment clearly and unequivocally explained?
b) Were the negotiated rates within your acceptable range?
c) Was the turnaround time feasible?


This looks more like a Blue Board for individual jobs or possibly individual PMs than agencies. Only at small agencies with just one staff member do these items tend to be constant.

But your suggestion does not solve Simon's problem: he wants to comment on an agency that he didn't work for.


 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
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In memoriam
That was another proposal of mine Sep 11, 2015

Samuel Murray wrote:

José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
a) Was the assignment clearly and unequivocally explained?
b) Were the negotiated rates within your acceptable range?
c) Was the turnaround time feasible?


This looks more like a Blue Board for individual jobs or possibly individual PMs than agencies. Only at small agencies with just one staff member do these items tend to be constant.


From my experience, these trends remain stable over the lifetime of a business relationship, as they stem from the company's business policies, regardless of size, and regardless of the individual who is implementing these policies.

Of course, any company may oops! now and then, however such occasional incidents get overwhelmed by the general experience... unless they build up into a new (downwards) trend.

Samuel Murray wrote:
But your suggestion does not solve Simon's problem: he wants to comment on an agency that he didn't work for.


I think I suggested Proz to include a button on posted jobs, with a more PC label to say "despicable payment offered". After a certain number (5? 10?) of Prozians who saw it clicked there, a banner would come up on that post to highlight that fact.

Of course, this would require safeguards, for instance to prevent a Prozian for labeling a 4¢-paying job as such, and then contacting the poster to offer to do that for 3¢.

So it would only work for jobs where bidding is only through the Proz system, not e-mail.

On that count, I had another suggestion, to make job posting free for bidding via the Proz system, and paid (e.g. US$ 1 per ad) for bidding via e-mail.

To clarify, there is Henry Dotterer, Enrique Cavallito, and yours truly José Henrique Lamensdorf. I'm the outsider giving ideas, not the one making them viable.


 
Enrique Cavalitto
Enrique Cavalitto  Identity Verified
Argentina
Local time: 16:26
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English to Spanish
Mutual respect is expected in these forums Sep 11, 2015

Hi deutschenglisch,

In this thread you wrote:

deutschenglisch wrote:

it is reasonable to expect that in your role, you are not in a position to comment freely on matters which would imply criticism of your employers.


deutschenglisch wrote:

My impression if proz is what it is. I dont need to debate or justify it with a staff member.
You are a business- if the figures are up well done.
But when a company pretends to be something it isnt i have to wonder.


deutschenglisch wrote:

Please respomd to Bernhards post
He encapsulated much of what i was trying to say perfectly
Thanks muchly


This is confusing. Should I comment or not? Should I comment on Bernhard's statements but not on yours?

Please consider this a formal reminder that by using the site, you indicate your acceptance of ProZ.com rules, and in particular the general rule #2

    Mutual respect, professionalism and fair play are expected. Site users are expected to treat each other with courtesy, whether posting publicly or making direct contact, and are advised to act under the assumption of good faith. Harassment of, or attacks or ad hominem statements on, individuals or groups, of any form, as well as discouragement of another's use of the site, will not be tolerated.


Regards


 
Enrique Cavalitto
Enrique Cavalitto  Identity Verified
Argentina
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English to Spanish
Some reflections Sep 11, 2015

Dear members,

Even though ProZ.com is the global leader in its segment, it is just a small piece of a huge market that grows every year and evolves, full of risks and opportunities, in the turbulent and challenging waters of globalization.

In this scenario, ProZ.com offers tools and opportunities to translators and translation companies to grow and improve their business, including:
  • Meaningful profiles to help professional translators advertise their abili... See more
Dear members,

Even though ProZ.com is the global leader in its segment, it is just a small piece of a huge market that grows every year and evolves, full of risks and opportunities, in the turbulent and challenging waters of globalization.

In this scenario, ProZ.com offers tools and opportunities to translators and translation companies to grow and improve their business, including:
  • Meaningful profiles to help professional translators advertise their abilities, so they can be found by potential clients

  • Networking channels to learn from each other, share experiences and outsource work to trusted colleagues when it comes in peaks (as it frequently happens).

  • A channel for companies in need of translation to post their requests to the community.


In this “marketplace” scenario, clients and service providers can meet and agree on conditions to exchange services for a payment. Rules and oversigh are in place to complement the players' risk management practices in order to fight scams, but otherwise the parties are free to agree or disagree on the conditions set by the other party.

It would be arrogant from ProZ.com to decide for our members what level of rates they should be allowed to access. Who would decide what level is “too low”? Where would you set the limit? Besides, as Bernhard wrote, no fiddling with information will make the low paid jobs dissapear.

Allowing translators to discuss specific outsourcers in the site, as well as allowing outsourcers to discuss their bad experiences with specific translators would, as Samuel said, deteriorate the atmosphere of the site, and most probably drive away many from the moderate majority. Plus the potential for legal problems.

ProZ.com offers the Blue Board, where translators can comment on their willingness to work again for a given outsourcer after having at least once delivered paid work to them. This is a valuable resource for the risk management of the translators.

When these issues were debated back in 2010 after a petition was received from a group of translators, opinions were divided on the issue of publishing rates, but many thought that publishing low rates would actually help pushing rates downwards.

Several changes were made to the job posting system, at that time, and others were introduced later, always based on the idea that the individual translator is in the best position to determine what he or she needs to charge to deliver the quality required on a particular job.

In particular, the rated offered by individual translators in response to posted jobs are invisible to other translators, as having this information visible would encourage others to try to get the job by offering an even lower rate, thus producing a “reverse bidding” that would produce lower rates.

There are in the Internet several sites that will let you comment (and put shame) on individual outsourcers (and also on individual translators). This is not ProZ.com style.

Hi Bernhard, I hope your concerns were addressed here.

Regards,
Enrique Cavalitto
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sdvplatt
sdvplatt
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Thank you Enrique Cavalitto Sep 11, 2015

Its Friday I'm done with all of this.
It was interesting to get some different opinions.
Mine have generally been reinforced.
Now its about trying to do something about it - but thats for another day.

Happy Translating : -)


Enrique Cavalitto wrote:

Dear members,

Even though ProZ.com is the global leader in its segment, it is just a small piece of a huge market that grows every year and evolves, full of risks and opportunities, in the turbulent and challenging waters of globalization.

In this scenario, ProZ.com offers tools and opportunities to translators and translation companies to grow and improve their business, including:
  • Meaningful profiles to help professional translators advertise their abilities, so they can be found by potential clients

  • Networking channels to learn from each other, share experiences and outsource work to trusted colleagues when it comes in peaks (as it frequently happens).

  • A channel for companies in need of translation to post their requests to the community.


In this “marketplace” scenario, clients and service providers can meet and agree on conditions to exchange services for a payment. Rules and oversigh are in place to complement the players' risk management practices in order to fight scams, but otherwise the parties are free to agree or disagree on the conditions set by the other party.

It would be arrogant from ProZ.com to decide for our members what level of rates they should be allowed to access. Who would decide what level is “too low”? Where would you set the limit? Besides, as Bernhard wrote, no fiddling with information will make the low paid jobs dissapear.

Allowing translators to discuss specific outsourcers in the site, as well as allowing outsourcers to discuss their bad experiences with specific translators would, as Samuel said, deteriorate the atmosphere of the site, and most probably drive away many from the moderate majority. Plus the potential for legal problems.

ProZ.com offers the Blue Board, where translators can comment on their willingness to work again for a given outsourcer after having at least once delivered paid work to them. This is a valuable resource for the risk management of the translators.

When these issues were debated back in 2010 after a petition was received from a group of translators, opinions were divided on the issue of publishing rates, but many thought that publishing low rates would actually help pushing rates downwards.

Several changes were made to the job posting system, at that time, and others were introduced later, always based on the idea that the individual translator is in the best position to determine what he or she needs to charge to deliver the quality required on a particular job.

In particular, the rated offered by individual translators in response to posted jobs are invisible to other translators, as having this information visible would encourage others to try to get the job by offering an even lower rate, thus producing a “reverse bidding” that would produce lower rates.

There are in the Internet several sites that will let you comment (and put shame) on individual outsourcers (and also on individual translators). This is not ProZ.com style.

Hi Bernhard, I hope your concerns were addressed here.

Regards,
Enrique Cavalitto


 
Bernhard Sulzer
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United States
Local time: 15:26
English to German
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Thanks! Sep 11, 2015

Enrique Cavalitto wrote:


Hi Bernhard, I hope your concerns were addressed here.

Regards,
Enrique Cavalitto


Thank you, Enrique. Appreciate it!
Bernhard


 
Bernhard Sulzer
Bernhard Sulzer  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 15:26
English to German
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Focusing on one's own efforts Sep 11, 2015

Romix wrote:

Bernhard's points and thoughts are really interesting, they've made me think a lot about previous debates and comments I've heard from numerous experienced colleagues about ProZ and other professional networks.


I appreciate the feedback. Thank you!

Couple of add-ons:

Romix wrote:
However, I think WE ALL have built this system.


Well, I can only speak from my perspective and even though translation portals wouldn't exist without the many translators offering their services, it's clear that the people who created the translation portals impacted the market greatly. As I said in my previous post, I'm not so concerned anymore about the bottom feeders because there is life above them so to speak and I believe they all will hit rock bottom faster these days because there are just so many. That helps distinguish us from them and will hopefully have an effect on where this profession is heading.

Yet, just because we built something, doesn't mean we can't change it. There are a few things that could be done, and they don't have to necessarily happen on this portal.

A community place where there are no bids but simply profiles through which professionals can be contacted and will provide their services at reasonable conditions. Groups of translators working together. Smaller translation agencies working with real professionals.

What can be done about the situation on this portal regarding lots of low-paying projects. agencies and the translators who accept them?
Here's what we (the translators) can do: have a good profile, be active in the community, stick to your rates, publish them and keep contacting those good clients you had and new clients that look promising.

"Know" that you should never expect to live off projects you might be able to get but that pay too little. It's not worth it. If all the serious translators adhere to best practices guidelines, they will be fighting for a place among other serious contenders in the business. Anything else is IMO a big waste of precious time and precious skills. And one lets oneself be exploited.

What can Proz.com do? Short of completely revamping the portal and getting rid of the job board, not too much There are good features, discounts for software among them. But waiting for change isn't going to solve anything for a translator right now. Focusing on things that you can do away from here or at least in addition to it will make the difference. At least for now.

Romix wrote:
The way the market works today is taking rates downwards, and the 'price dumpers' get the most benefit from ProZ because they get more clients and projects as opposed to translators who expect a fair rate. That is clear...

...Of course, assuming you can call it a 'benefit', given that you need to work too many extra hours to make an average income that is hardly enough to make ends meet, no matter which country/economic context you live in.


There had to be a limit to what a translator still considers an acceptable rate, otherwise we don't have to talk about it at all. So even if certain market forces seem to drag us all down, we are the ones that drag ourselves down, really. If for whatever reason it seems impossible to exist without taking on plenty of low-paying jobs, it's a very bad situation: one still doesn't make enough money and the work itself can be very stressful and exhausting. That puts that person almost in a home-sweatshop. No, then one seriously needs to think about doing something else or change strategies. Strategy number 1: I will not let myself be exploited.

Romix wrote:

And this happens both inside and outside ProZ. It has little to do with ProZ' settings and tools but with the use its members give to those features. I'm not sure whether the staff can really do something to prevent this.


Well, I don't see it as black and white as your suggestion sounds to me. The features are often the pillars of the whole system. If the job board didn't exist, the exchange between outsourcers and translators might be different because it takes more effort to communicate. In any case, changing features can change the dynamics of the site. Some things might be worth a try. Asking outsourcers to become members in order to post projects might prevent some from participating.

But I think you're right that lots of things happen here and elsewhere, good and bad, and therefore focusing on one's own efforts is probably the best advice I can give. There are lots of things one can do to get going and to keep going without being exploited. And take from Proz.com what is helpful to you.

[Edited at 2015-09-11 22:49 GMT]


 
jyuan_us
jyuan_us  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 15:26
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
$0.015 was offered in a recent ad about machine translation post editing Sep 11, 2015

The agency will send the translator the translation copy generated most likely with Google Translate and ask the translator to make it into a quallity translation. Since everybody can have a text automatically translated with Google Translate, what this company is actually doing is to reduce the fee to $0.015 per source word to the translator for his or her translation work. This is even lower than the going rate in China.

 
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So why doesnt Proz allow users to comment about price dumpers?






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