| Pages in topic: [1 2 3] > | Rating others' entries when you've entered yourself Thread poster: philgoddard
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I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but I can't find any previous posts.
I recently entered some ProZ translation contests for the first time, and was surprised to discover that I'm allowed to rate other people's entries.
That means I have two options:
1. Sit back, do nothing, and hope for the best
2. Pick holes in others' submissions, just as they're probably doing to me
The rules say that if you make nothing but negative comments, ... See more I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but I can't find any previous posts.
I recently entered some ProZ translation contests for the first time, and was surprised to discover that I'm allowed to rate other people's entries.
That means I have two options:
1. Sit back, do nothing, and hope for the best
2. Pick holes in others' submissions, just as they're probably doing to me
The rules say that if you make nothing but negative comments, or if they are otherwise abnormal, your entry may be excluded. But surely I should just be barred from commenting on others' contributions, period. Can you imagine if the contestants in (say) the Eurovision Song Contest were allowed to mark one another? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:37
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Thanks Phil - that's useful to know. I will not be taking part in any of these contests, for the reason you mention.
| | | | | This is absolutely unbelievable | Dec 3, 2020 |
philgoddard wrote:
I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but I can't find any previous posts.
I recently entered some ProZ translation contests for the first time, and was surprised to discover that I'm allowed to rate other people's entries.
That means I have two options:
1. Sit back, do nothing, and hope for the best
2. Pick holes in others' submissions, just as they're probably doing to me
...
Can you imagine if the contestants in (say) the Eurovision Song Contest were allowed to mark one another?
I read this years ago (when this issue had been discussed) and thought sincerely it had been fixed since then. Adding this to the debacle that finding a winner needed sometimes years is not very encouraging and a contest still held in such circumstances should be declared invalid.
| | | | texjax DDS PhD 
Local time: 05:37
Member (2006)
English to Italian
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That’s one of the reasons I no longer take part, the other one being the fact that an infamous contest took over three years to come to an end, if my memory serves me right…
| | | | Felipe Lacerda
Brazil
Local time: 07:37
Member (2011)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
I do think that the contests, as well as the KudoZ to a certain degree, are fundamentally flawed.
Teresa Borges wrote:
That’s one of the reasons I no longer take part, the other one being the fact that an infamous contest took over three years to come to an end, if my memory serves me right…
Tell us more - I'm curious. What happenned?
| | | | philgoddard
United States
German to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks for the link to the 2014 post.
Here's what Jared Tabor, a member of site staff, said then:
"I've watched this, and I do not see evidence that participants' ability to rate or vote on entries skews the results.
"In general the interaction I have seen has been constructive, and entry-makers may bring an interesting perspective to the process-- they've all struggled with the same turns of phrase, chosen or discarded certain term choices, etc. I've seen ... See more Thanks for the link to the 2014 post.
Here's what Jared Tabor, a member of site staff, said then:
"I've watched this, and I do not see evidence that participants' ability to rate or vote on entries skews the results.
"In general the interaction I have seen has been constructive, and entry-makers may bring an interesting perspective to the process-- they've all struggled with the same turns of phrase, chosen or discarded certain term choices, etc. I've seen participants congratulate each other on choices they hadn't thought of, as well as pointing out when mistakes are made, or when they don't agree with a choice (in the way others who rate the entries do). I think dislike tags may tend to be more common than like tags in general, but this is not an attribute particular to entry-makers' ratings. And I don't see any consistent relationship between the number of like or dislike ratings on an entry that wins versus an entry that doesn't win-- raters and voters are using their own judgment when it comes to rating and voting."
I can see his point, but I don't agree with this approach. I'm effectively being forced to comment on other entries in self-defense, even though I don't particularly want to. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sadek_A
Local time: 14:37
English to Arabic
+ ...
| What does one get from that contest anyway? | Dec 4, 2020 |
A similar approach I've seen practiced somewhere else.
A translation platform company, when trying to win a new client, puts out a number of identical tests for a number of their translators to grab, one test gets grabbed by an in-good-faith translator while the company's platform is allowing the rest of the translators to (1)view (2)review (3)rate that translation of the test.
Only shortly afterwards will those other translators grab their tests, of course after the fi... See more A similar approach I've seen practiced somewhere else.
A translation platform company, when trying to win a new client, puts out a number of identical tests for a number of their translators to grab, one test gets grabbed by an in-good-faith translator while the company's platform is allowing the rest of the translators to (1)view (2)review (3)rate that translation of the test.
Only shortly afterwards will those other translators grab their tests, of course after the first test-taker sanded all the rough terminology, acronyms, puns, etc.
Usually, the first test-taker wouldn't win the client, despite the sincere effort.
And, that was being done for PAID work!
I guess the same is an indicator of life in general, where mostly the zigzag (to put it politely, instead of crooked) performer gets to progress.
So, they might be teaching us a lesson, or that zigzag performer might be just the material they're looking for (and this is said as a general rule in life, not just about the contest)! ▲ Collapse
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| | Felipe Lacerda
Brazil
Local time: 07:37
Member (2011)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Damn. Four years is ridiculous for a contest - especially for a text with, how many, 400 words?
Not sure about other languages, but, in PT-BR, the hardest thing to find is honest feedback. Sometimes I work as a third-party arbitrator and you can smell the reviewer's unfairness and arrogance from the computer screen. Even when the project is great (let's say, two style edits in a document with 5,000 words), most reviewers only write "Work is OK".
I think some linguists are too concerned that they won't get more work if they admit that their peers are doing a good job.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 11:37
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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philgoddard wrote:
I can see his point, but I don't agree with this approach. I'm effectively being forced to comment on other entries in self-defense, even though I don't particularly want to.
I don't see it this way.
I'm not sure to what extend the comments affect the final voting. When I vote for an entry, I base my vote on my impression of the translation itself and not on the number of comments or the content of the comments. I don't even agree with all the comments. I don't know if others base their vote mainly or solely on the balance of positive and negative comments on entries.
But I don't see why it would be necessary or why you should feel pressured into it to comment on other entries. I don't understand why it would be considered "self-defense" to do so.
In addition, I think translators who have struggled through the text while translating it, and not just regarding the text as a passive reader, are in a very good position to comment on the translations of others (even more so than people who did not send in entries).
| | | | | Am I the only one... | Dec 4, 2020 |
Am I the only one who finds the title of this thread funny?
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Sadek_A
Local time: 14:37
English to Arabic
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Chris S wrote:
Am I the only one who finds the title of this thread funny?
Not the whole title, just some of the words, "others' entries" outbested (not topped) by "entered yourself"; the rest are fine.
| | | | Mervyn Henderson (X)
Spain
Local time: 11:37
Spanish to English
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| No, you're not | Dec 4, 2020 |
I'm afraid I rush into momentary immaturity like you do, mentally back in my third-form classroom. It should be moved immediately to the Completely frivolous thread.
[Edited at 2020-12-04 19:08 GMT]
| | | | | This is madness | Dec 4, 2020 |
philgoddard wrote:
I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but I can't find any previous posts.
I recently entered some ProZ translation contests for the first time, and was surprised to discover that I'm allowed to rate other people's entries.
That means I have two options:
1. Sit back, do nothing, and hope for the best
2. Pick holes in others' submissions, just as they're probably doing to me
The rules say that if you make nothing but negative comments, or if they are otherwise abnormal, your entry may be excluded. But surely I should just be barred from commenting on others' contributions, period. Can you imagine if the contestants in (say) the Eurovision Song Contest were allowed to mark one another?
The rating should be done by an "independent" jury, not by your fellow contestants for the obvious reasons.
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