| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6 7] > | Why do people who have been on Proz for over 10 years continue to hide behind silly screen names? Thread poster: Michael Beijer
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Dan Lucas 
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:35
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| St. David's Day indeed | Mar 1, 2016 |
Chris S wrote:
Maybe we'd still be morons if we used our real/full names.
♬ Mawrth y cyntaf
Dydd Gŵyl Dewi
Mae heddiw'n Mawrth y cyntaf
Gŵyl Dewi ydy hi ♪
| | | | esperantisto
Local time: 11:35
Member (2006)
English to Russian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | About esperantisto | Mar 1, 2016 |
Michael J.W. Beijer wrote:
Not sure. Just noticed that esperantisto has the "verified identity" ✓, and he/she isn't using his/her real name.
1. Esperantisto does use his real name and it is shown to potential outsourcers (this is selectable in the profile settings).
2. Esperantisto is he, which is clearly indicated by the nickname.
3. Esperantisto wonders what is so special about him that has drawn some particular attention. Namely, why “esperantisto” is so different from “Michael J.W. Beijer”? Any proof that “Michael J.W. Beijer” is not a nickname? Any proof that the picture of “Michael J.W. Beijer” is real?
| | | | Michael Beijer
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:35
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | what an odd fellow, this "esperantisto", who speaks about himself in the third person | Mar 1, 2016 |
esperantisto wrote: Michael J.W. Beijer wrote:
Not sure. Just noticed that esperantisto has the "verified identity" ✓, and he/she isn't using his/her real name. 1. Esperantisto does use his real name and it is shown to potential outsourcers (this is selectable in the profile settings). 2. Esperantisto is he, which is clearly indicated by the nickname. 3. Esperantisto wonders what is so special about him that has drawn some particular attention. Namely, why “esperantisto” is so different from “Michael J.W. Beijer”? Any proof that “Michael J.W. Beijer” is not a nickname? Any proof that the picture of “Michael J.W. Beijer” is real?
There was nothing special about you. I just picked you out at random, to make a point. I just quickly scanned the page, looking for ticks, or the absence thereof.
Yeah, sure, I speak some Spanish, and "o" is male, and "a" is female, right? But it really wasn't clear to me that you are a dude. But now I know. Thanks.
The difference between "Michael J.W. Beijer" and "esperantisto" is that the former is clearly a (Dutch) name, and the latter an internet handle. As to whether my picture is fake, I won't even answer that.
| | | | esperantisto
Local time: 11:35
Member (2006)
English to Russian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | what an odd fellow, this “Michael J.W. Beijer”, who refers to an irrelevant language | Mar 1, 2016 |
Michael J.W. Beijer wrote:
Yeah, sure, I speak some Spanish, and "o" is male, and "a" is female, right?
What does Spanish to do with all that? This is an English-speaking forum. I am not a native speaker of Spanish (although quite fluent in it).
The difference between "Michael J.W. Beijer" and "esperantisto" is that the former is clearly a (Dutch) name, and the latter an internet handle.
The former is just an Internet handle to me. It sounds like an apparel brand rather than like a human name.
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Phil Hand
China
Local time: 16:35
Chinese to English
| Kudoz can be good | Mar 1, 2016 |
I always think it's a shame to hear that people don't enjoy Kudoz, because I've got loads out of it over the years. In my pair it's great - not always in terms of quality, but in terms of friendliness and mutual respect. There's not much commenting between answerers, but when there is it's always constructive. I don't know if it's just because there are so few who regularly answer questions or if there's some other reason. It might be worth asking the Chinese mods if there's anything special tha... See more I always think it's a shame to hear that people don't enjoy Kudoz, because I've got loads out of it over the years. In my pair it's great - not always in terms of quality, but in terms of friendliness and mutual respect. There's not much commenting between answerers, but when there is it's always constructive. I don't know if it's just because there are so few who regularly answer questions or if there's some other reason. It might be worth asking the Chinese mods if there's anything special that they do, just to see if good practices can be spread. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Michael Beijer
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:35
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | MJWB.87765$33@a | Mar 1, 2016 |
esperantisto wrote: Michael J.W. Beijer wrote:
Yeah, sure, I speak some Spanish, and "o" is male, and "a" is female, right? What does Spanish to do with all that? This is an English-speaking forum. I am not a native speaker of Spanish (although quite fluent in it). The difference between "Michael J.W. Beijer" and "esperantisto" is that the former is clearly a (Dutch) name, and the latter an internet handle. The former is just an Internet handle to me. It sounds like an apparel brand rather than like a human name.
If you honestly think my name sounds like a brand, then maybe you are actually a sentient Linux distro after all. I had the sneaking suspicion you might be an AI experiment, and you just failed the Turing test.
The reason I brought up Spanish is that you said "2. Esperantisto is he, which is clearly indicated by the nickname." I assumed you were referring to the fact that your nickname ends with an "o", and that this is supposed to indicate you are male. I chose Spanish because that's the only language I speak that has sth like that.
Michael J.W. Beijer = Michael Joseph Wdowiak Beijer. That's who I am, and always will be.
[Edited at 2016-03-01 15:20 GMT]
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Michael J.W. Beijer wrote: Dan Lucas wrote:
Everybody complains about KudoZ for one reason or another. ProZ has either decided that it's not worth changing or it cannot make its mind up. Just stop dealing with KudoZ and your life will become less stressful.
If enough people take this route, KudoZ will either be changed or become ever more irrelevant.
Dan
as I'm a KudoZ addict  But seriously, the real reason is that it scoots me all the way up the rankings, which results in being contacted by tons of people for work. A lot of crap, of course, but some good stuff comes my way via the site too. [Edited at 2016-03-01 13:49 GMT]
Whilst I'm obviously really against the idea of changing the way user names work, this does seem like a very frustrating situation.
It's not good if Kudoz is in such a mess that people feel the need to boycott it. And when I read your post before, I wanted to say hats-off for making such a contribution. Even if you're motivation is to feed an addiction, it has the potential to be a really valuable resource and Proz should definitely be working to support the people that voluntarily keep it alive.
So sorry, Proz, normally I'm on your side but this time I have to say, it's time to do something! As I said, that's what moderators are for, isn't it?
| | | | | What an odd discussion | Mar 1, 2016 |
Let everybody use the name he/she wants. I use two names actually, Robert Rietvelt for agencies (and Proz) and my brand/company name ESPANED.COM for direct clients. What is wrong with that?
About photo's, haven't found the right one yet, I am probably too idle (and who cares anyway how I look? I sell translation services, not good looks)
[Edited at 2016-03-01 16:11 GMT]
[Edited at 2016-03-... See more Let everybody use the name he/she wants. I use two names actually, Robert Rietvelt for agencies (and Proz) and my brand/company name ESPANED.COM for direct clients. What is wrong with that?
About photo's, haven't found the right one yet, I am probably too idle (and who cares anyway how I look? I sell translation services, not good looks)
[Edited at 2016-03-01 16:11 GMT]
[Edited at 2016-03-01 20:30 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Kay Denney
France
Local time: 10:35
French to English
Michael J.W. Beijer wrote: Texte Style wrote:
This subject has come up before and I'll say the same thing as before: as a former victim of a seriously creepy stalker, I refuse to do anything on Internet that requires me to put my real name out for anyone to find with a quick Google search.
I similarly refuse to use a photo in which I might be identified. I thoroughly enjoy being able to discuss translation matters here without anyone ever making any comments on my appearance, or hitting on me.
For the record, I only come here for a bit of a chat, I don't use Proz to seek out clients. I might one day, in which case I might just buy membership and add a photo with a logo or something. My "name" does already reflect my take on translation, and puns my primary specialist subject, so I think it's plenty pro enough.
So if you find it insulting, I'm very sorry. My physical safety takes priority.
[Edited at 2016-03-01 09:46 GMT] I fully understand that certain people will have very good reasons to want to remain anonymous. I just wanted to discuss the matter, and see if we could come up with any alternative solutions. I admit that my thread title is a bit polemical, but I did that on purpose to catch people's attention. So far, it doesn't look like there will be any way, or desire, to implement anything along the lines of an actual identity/name verification system that is open to us users, and that the best I can hope for in my own particular situation (being harassed by a small number of anonymous users in the KudZ forums) is to continue to message the mods.
My solution is to just keep away from Kudoz
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Georgie Scott wrote:
So sorry, Proz, normally I'm on your side but this time I have to say, it's time to do something! As I said, that's what moderators are for, isn't it?
Moderators can delete abusive posts but they can't stop eejits disagreeing with legitimate answers, or eejits posting/agreeing with/awarding points to eejit answers.
You can't ban the eejits as that would also take all the fun out of KudoZ.
The obvious solution for Michael is to contribute anonymously...
| | | | finnword1
United States
Local time: 04:35
English to Finnish
+ ...
| Yeah, why do they? | Mar 1, 2016 |
Did you get an answer to your original question?
| | | | Michael Beijer
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:35
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
finnword1 wrote:
Did you get an answer to your original question?
I got quite a few.
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Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:35
Serbian to English
+ ...
| why do people get silly ideas about what is [or not] their business ... | Mar 1, 2016 |
Michael J.W. Beijer wrote:
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There are a number of people in my language pair who provide no info about their actual identity on their profile, and yet constantly criticise other users. This doesn't seem right. They are allowed to endlessly criticise others, and yet we don't get to know who they are. If their colleagues at least knew who they really were, I suspect they would behave themselves a little better. The fact that they are allowed to hide behind screen names gives them freedom to act in ways they probably wouldn't dare in real life.
Michael
I am not trying to tell anyone how to live their life and am under no illusions about being morally superior in any way. I am just annoyed at being harassed by a few anonymous morons in the Dutch-English KudoZ forums.
FYI: from my personal experience, amongst those who have missed more than one opportunity to refrain from showing their total ignorance of some subjects, and how much their are proud of their own ignorance, the proportion of those showing all sort of contact details and "real" names is pretty high - so I don't see what objective improvement could be achieved by "compulsory ID verification"?
Being harassed by morons? Sad fact of life - but them using "silly handles" is a very minor part of the problem ... and certainly not a valid reason to call "silly" all people who use handles, some for damn good reasons!
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 10:35
Spanish to English
+ ...
| What, me worry? | Mar 2, 2016 |
Ricki Farn wrote:
When I see colleagues with nicknames on here, I assume they're either employed inhouse or such good freelancers that they don't have to go looking for clients on ProZ.
Guilty as charged!
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 10:35
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| I just wanted to say "Hi"... | Mar 2, 2016 |
to neilmac, finnword1, Texte Style, esperantisto, CafeTran Training, Neptunia from Lingua5B!
I see you as wonderful human beings, not borgs.
That aside, OP, I believe your issues stem from potential problematic personalities on KudoZ, not nicknames. Nicknames are innocent. Personally I wouldn't take KudoZ so seriously. Once you address your client and negotiate a project, then you may go into fully seri... See more to neilmac, finnword1, Texte Style, esperantisto, CafeTran Training, Neptunia from Lingua5B!
I see you as wonderful human beings, not borgs.
That aside, OP, I believe your issues stem from potential problematic personalities on KudoZ, not nicknames. Nicknames are innocent. Personally I wouldn't take KudoZ so seriously. Once you address your client and negotiate a project, then you may go into fully serious mode. ▲ Collapse
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