Blue Board average based on 42 high ratings, but with 14 "one" ratings: To be believed?
Thread poster: finnword1
finnword1
finnword1
United States
Local time: 11:24
English to Finnish
+ ...
Sep 9, 2016

I came across a translation company with 229 blue board entries, out of which 14 were "ones". Yet their average LWA was 4.5 partly because in 2013 they received 42 "fours" and "fives" in a two-day period. Anyone out there believe this?

[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2016-09-09 17:35 GMT]


 
Timothy Barton
Timothy Barton
Local time: 17:24
French to English
+ ...
Possible explanation Sep 9, 2016

A possible explanation is that within that two-day period they sent requests to all their freelancers for ratings. One thing I'd look at is whether the high ratings are from real people, i.e. if you open the profiles of the people who gave the ratings, do they have full profiles and are they active, or do they look like they were set up only to provide the rating. Have those people provided ratings for other agencies? If it looks suspicious, report it to Proz staff.

 
Michael Beijer
Michael Beijer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:24
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
in vino ... Sep 9, 2016

There is this one agency (from Swansea)(which I shall not name) that went bankrupt and still owes many translators a ton of money, and they did sth similar: if you look at their ranking on Facebook, you will see that they got like forty-five 5 stars, all on pretty much a single day. A little digging revealed that they were all fake. Basically just students in the university the owner was connected with. After going bankrupt, they immediately restarted under a new name, and are still present here... See more
There is this one agency (from Swansea)(which I shall not name) that went bankrupt and still owes many translators a ton of money, and they did sth similar: if you look at their ranking on Facebook, you will see that they got like forty-five 5 stars, all on pretty much a single day. A little digging revealed that they were all fake. Basically just students in the university the owner was connected with. After going bankrupt, they immediately restarted under a new name, and are still present here on the site, thankfully banned.

Michael
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finnword1
finnword1
United States
Local time: 11:24
English to Finnish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
another detail Sep 9, 2016

Timothy Barton wrote:

A possible explanation is that within that two-day period they sent requests to all their freelancers for ratings. One thing I'd look at is whether the high ratings are from real people, i.e. if you open the profiles of the people who gave the ratings, do they have full profiles and are they active, or do they look like they were set up only to provide the rating. Have those people provided ratings for other agencies? If it looks suspicious, report it to Proz staff.


If indeed this was an all-out effort to improve their grade point average, it did not work: eight of those 14 "ones" were "awarded" after those glorious two days.

[Edited at 2016-09-09 21:32 GMT]


 
Jennifer Forbes
Jennifer Forbes  Identity Verified
Local time: 15:24
French to English
+ ...
In memoriam
I know for a fact ... Sep 9, 2016

... that there are agencies which ask their translators to rate them on the Blue Board and possibly elsewhere - presumably favourably - and translators might find it difficult to decline if they want to remain in that agency's "good books" and continue to receive work from them - or even be sure of getting paid for a previous month's work without hassle. So an element of active or passive pressure may exist.

Perhaps there are also translators who ask agencies to rate them here and e
... See more
... that there are agencies which ask their translators to rate them on the Blue Board and possibly elsewhere - presumably favourably - and translators might find it difficult to decline if they want to remain in that agency's "good books" and continue to receive work from them - or even be sure of getting paid for a previous month's work without hassle. So an element of active or passive pressure may exist.

Perhaps there are also translators who ask agencies to rate them here and elsewhere. I don't know. I'd never tout for references for fear of the embarrassment of the (remote?) possibility that they might decline.

All of this means that Blue Board entries should be viewed with a degree of caution.

The Blue Board is a formidable resource and was the main reason for my joining Proz, but ... please use your wits!
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Yasutomo Kanazawa
Yasutomo Kanazawa  Identity Verified
Japan
Local time: 00:24
Member (2005)
English to Japanese
+ ...
Seconded Sep 13, 2016

Jenny Forbes wrote:

... that there are agencies which ask their translators to rate them on the Blue Board and possibly elsewhere - presumably favourably - and translators might find it difficult to decline if they want to remain in that agency's "good books" and continue to receive work from them - or even be sure of getting paid for a previous month's work without hassle. So an element of active or passive pressure may exist.

Perhaps there are also translators who ask agencies to rate them here and elsewhere. I don't know. I'd never tout for references for fear of the embarrassment of the (remote?) possibility that they might decline.

All of this means that Blue Board entries should be viewed with a degree of caution.

The Blue Board is a formidable resource and was the main reason for my joining Proz, but ... please use your wits!



I know one agency who asked their translators to enter a 5 on Blue Board right after I entered a "1" for this particular agency. They have succeeded in collecting 15 "5"s from 15 people in two days, 13 being on the same day and the rest the next day. They must have been really desperate. And it's a laugh that all the effort they put in collecting 5s from translators are down the drain because they have now been banned from posting jobs at Proz and the last few entries are all 1s and 2s, consisting of complaints of non-payment and invalid VAT number.


 


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Blue Board average based on 42 high ratings, but with 14 "one" ratings: To be believed?






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