Suggestion for Freelang needs your opinons

[Soeren]

Hello :)

I've written to the webmaster about a suggestion I have however I'd like to get to know everyone else's opinion, too. Well, here goes:

My suggestion for Freelang would be to introduce a new feature that allows the people who sent translation requests to give a rating for the translator they picked. That way good translators would get accumulate good/bad ratings over time and people that have requests could see which translator they better avoid.

It's not meant to discriminate translators with basic abilities but it is meant to let the translators know that
a) their work is appreciated (very few people send a mail with thanks after they received the translation - most of the time I never hear from them again which is kinda disappointing)
b) their knowledge of that certain language is good - or that it needs some more studying

I'd be happy to see this feature implemented because I think it would make Freelang more efficient and more beneficial for both sides. :)

Best wishes,
-Soeren

[boubbie]

One question : on what will be based these ratings ?
One another question to Beaumont : does translators who did not reconfirm their participation still belong to freelang ?

[SubEspion]

I think that some person can abuse from this service because in a bad
mood or only for fun, a person can put a bad rating to the translator
only for pleasure.

Some translators can put himself a good rating (des traducteurs sans
scrupule) but Beaumont will know more about that I think.

[Beaumont]

I have received Soeren's email, so I'm waiting for other people's comments as well.

boubbie: if you are a registered translator but you don't reconfirm when you receive the email asking you to do so (every 6 months), your data are removed from Freelang's database (after a month) and I don't keep them at all (it's forbidden to keep data on people after they unsubscribe). So in that case you need to subscribe again. This is to avoid keeping translators with email addresses having become invalid, or translators who subscribed by mistake, and so on.

[kokoyaya]

I don't really agree with that (even if the idea is good): as SubEspion says, what if a guy gives you a bad mark if you refuse to do a translation for him because there is no "please", "thanks" or so?

[Olivier]

I have no problem with that if it is made clear what is exactly being rated - for instance, no answer = no influence on rating, or does it count? (one may be away just for a few days, or consider the text too technical or uninteresting - after all we are free to do what we want since we are not paid)
-- Olivier

[slef]

do you really think people who are unable to translate would propose to do so. Some translation are really hard to do, so what's the use of telling you can if you really can't. This is only to help people. The ones who ask for translations are able though to see if the translations are correct or really unappropriate, I think.
Moreover, translators are able and adult enough to tell if they are unable to make a translation, so that the demander can ask someone else.

[kokoyaya]

Another problem: we are asked to do a translation by someone who does not understand the document.
How can he judge our translation if he does not understand the source document?

[Esenthiel]

For every important translation you should double, or triple check to ensure validity. I tell everyone who asks me for a translation this. A rating system will do nothing. I have "BASIC TRANSLATIONS ONLY" in my profile, and people still ask me to make highly complex translations. The rating system will be ignored. And even if it weren't, it would still cause too many problems as opposed to fixing any.

[boubbie]

Another problem: we are asked to do a translation by someone who does not understand the document.
How can he judge our translation if he does not understand the source document?

That's why I asked on what will be based these ratings !!!