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Blue Board
Thread poster: finnword1
finnword1
finnword1
United States
Local time: 15:35
English to Finnish
+ ...
Jul 12, 2023

One agency has 641 entries on the Blue Board. They have received 22 "fives" on a very same day. Anybody have any comments?

Tom in London
Dalia Nour
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:35
Member (2008)
Italian to English
My comment Jul 12, 2023

finnword1 wrote:

One agency has 641 entries on the Blue Board. They have received 22 "fives" on a very same day. Anybody have any comments?


My comment is that you should never consult the BlueBoard unless you have a large bowl of salt by your elbow.


Lingua 5B
Mr. Satan (X)
Michael Newton
Dan Lucas
Aurélien ARPAZ
Yaotl Altan
 
Lingua 5B
Lingua 5B  Identity Verified
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 21:35
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
Agree but Jul 12, 2023

Tom in London wrote:

finnword1 wrote:

One agency has 641 entries on the Blue Board. They have received 22 "fives" on a very same day. Anybody have any comments?


My comment is that you should never consult the BlueBoard unless you have a large bowl of salt by your elbow.


Agree, but that's an only (albeit salty) filter we have when considering a new agency. Sure, we can exercise due diligence and check the Internet but no ratings are available. Minus Trustpilot in some cases.

@OP It may or may not mean something bad. Perhaps they have a large project going on and they send automatic invitations to all translators to leave a review. We don't know all the circumstances and don't have enough information to draw a reliable conclusion.


Dalia Nour
Lieven Malaise
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Philip Lees
Andrus Lauringson
Rachel Waddington
 
Lieven Malaise
Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 21:35
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Some agencies ask you to leave a review Jul 12, 2023

I have left a BlueBoard rating in 2 occasions. Twice I was specifically requested to do so. So there's your answer.

Angie Garbarino
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 20:35
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Agree but Jul 13, 2023

I look at those agencies with the same scepticism I have towards some translators who have hundreds of positive entries…

Christel Zipfel
Lingua 5B
Michael Newton
expressisverbis
Aurélien ARPAZ
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 21:35
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Simple Jul 13, 2023

finnword1 wrote:
They have received 22 "fives" on a very same day. Anybody have any comments?

They sent a request to all of their translators to rate them on the Blue Board. 22 of those translators who have not yet rated them decided to rate them.


Christel Zipfel
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Fabrizio Ferrero
Oriana W.
Angie Garbarino
 
finnword1
finnword1
United States
Local time: 15:35
English to Finnish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you all Jul 13, 2023

I did not think that the 22 "fives" were given spontaneously. A proper description might be "harvesting".

Michael Newton
Becca Resnik
philgoddard
Yaotl Altan
 
Lieven Malaise
Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 21:35
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
. Jul 14, 2023

finnword1 wrote:
A proper description might be "harvesting".


Does it matter ? If I would have had a bad experience with an agency and they ask me to give them a rating, I will be happy to provide them with a 1.


Lingua 5B
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Angie Garbarino
 
Lingua 5B
Lingua 5B  Identity Verified
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 21:35
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
Only one time Jul 14, 2023

I was specifically sent an invitation to leave a BB review only once. It wasn’t the best, nor the worst, agency so I didn’t leave any.

 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:35
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Make it worse Jul 14, 2023

Lieven Malaise wrote:

finnword1 wrote:
A proper description might be "harvesting".


Does it matter ? If I would have had a bad experience with an agency and they ask me to give them a rating, I will be happy to provide them with a 1.


I was once not paid by an agency so I gave them a 1 on the BB. They then said they would pay me on condition that I gave them a 5. I considered this blackmail and dishonest towards other Prozians who might think they could rely on the credibility of BB ratings.

OK I gave them 5, they paid me, and then I changed their rating back to 1. The b*stards.

So dear chums: don't consult the BB without taking a pinch of that salt from the bowl you should have by your elbow.


Christopher Schröder
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
philgoddard
finnword1
Yaotl Altan
 
Lingua 5B
Lingua 5B  Identity Verified
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 21:35
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
Had no idea Jul 14, 2023

Had no idea BB entry could be edited that many times. I thought only one edit was possible.

Yaotl Altan
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:35
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Long time Jul 14, 2023

Lingua 5B wrote:

Had no idea BB entry could be edited that many times. I thought only one edit was possible.


It was a long time ago - 10 years at least- Maybe since then Proz has changed the requirements.


 
finnword1
finnword1
United States
Local time: 15:35
English to Finnish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
32 Blue Board "fives" this month alone Feb 29

Sure, it is leap year with one extra day, but still that many fives in one month looks suspicious.

 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 20:35
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
On the bright side Mar 3

It means that despite all the negative headlines and the general moaning about this dying profession, there is a light in the end of the tunnel as some agencies seem to be very active

 
Anton Konashenok
Anton Konashenok  Identity Verified
Czech Republic
Local time: 21:35
French to English
+ ...
Don't just look at the overall Blue Board score Mar 3

Besides the scores themselves, Blue Board conveniently provides KudoZ point counts for those giving the score, so I look first and foremost at the scores given by high-KudoZ members.

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
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