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ProZ Find™ search tool (alpha): speed improvement, search-by-location improved
Thread poster: Henry Dotterer
Linda Gunnarson
Linda Gunnarson  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 02:41
Member (2017)
English to Swedish
+ ...
Number of visitors decreased dramatically Jul 4, 2018

The number of visitors to my profile have decreased by more than 50% since the change. I used to get plenty of good offers from people who found my profile, but I’m starting to get worried that will not be the case anymore.

I found it to be a great boost in visibility to join the Pro network a few months ago, but it seems this is no longer the case.


Ivana UK
Josephine Cassar
 
Katalin Szilárd
Katalin Szilárd  Identity Verified
Hungary
Local time: 02:41
English to Hungarian
+ ...
Ditto Jul 4, 2018

Linda Gunnarson wrote:

The number of visitors to my profile have decreased by more than 50% since the change. I used to get plenty of good offers from people who found my profile, but I’m starting to get worried that will not be the case anymore.

I found it to be a great boost in visibility to join the Pro network a few months ago, but it seems this is no longer the case.


Probably one of the reason of this is: Only business members and Plus subscribers can contact or be contacted via profile message on Proz Mobile.



https://www.proz.com/forum/prozcom_mobile/326365-only_business_members_and_plus_subscribers_can_contact_or_be_contacted_via_profile_message.html

____________________________________________________

So if a client is looking at the directory on her/his mobile, he/she will not see the same what you see on your laptop...

I sent a support ticket a month ago (without knowing the above change) that I had very erratic profile visitors, since a long time: sometimes I had many visitors after that almost no visitors for weeks. I think they were making a test at that time on my expense (since I'm paying). Now I almost don't get any visitors from Proz Find and a very few from the normal Directory.

I am paying for this site (and many people have standard membership like I have) and there was a promise that the Plus package would not give a priority in the Directory for Plus subscribers still it does now.
Without members being notified.






[Edited at 2018-07-04 11:54 GMT]


 
Linda Gunnarson
Linda Gunnarson  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 02:41
Member (2017)
English to Swedish
+ ...
Gob-smacked Jul 4, 2018

Katalin Szilárd wrote:

Linda Gunnarson wrote:

The number of visitors to my profile have decreased by more than 50% since the change. I used to get plenty of good offers from people who found my profile, but I’m starting to get worried that will not be the case anymore.

I found it to be a great boost in visibility to join the Pro network a few months ago, but it seems this is no longer the case.


Probably one of the reason of this is: Only business members and Plus subscribers can contact or be contacted via profile message on Proz Mobile.



https://www.proz.com/forum/prozcom_mobile/326365-only_business_members_and_plus_subscribers_can_contact_or_be_contacted_via_profile_message.html

____________________________________________________

So if a client is looking at the directory on her/his mobile, he/she will not see the same what you see on your laptop...

I sent a support ticket a month ago (without knowing the above change) that I had very erratic profile visitors, since a long time: sometimes I had many visitors after that almost no visitors for weeks. I think they were making a test at that time on my expense (since I'm paying). Now I almost don't get any visitors from Proz Find and a very few from the normal Directory.

I am paying for this site (and many people have standard membership like I have) and there was a promise that the Plus package would not give a priority in the Directory for Plus subscribers still it does now.
Without members being notified.






[Edited at 2018-07-04 11:54 GMT]


I had no idea, thank you for telling me! So I’m paying for membership in a directory that actively encourages potential customers to use an interface that prevents them from contacting me?!

Well if the jobs don’t come in as they used to there is no reason for me to keep paying.


Ivana UK
Katalin Szilárd
 
Katalin Szilárd
Katalin Szilárd  Identity Verified
Hungary
Local time: 02:41
English to Hungarian
+ ...
Jobs should come soon if Proz.com changes its business practice and let us have our own business Jul 4, 2018

Linda Gunnarson wrote:

I had no idea, thank you for telling me! So I’m paying for membership in a directory that actively encourages potential customers to use an interface that prevents them from contacting me?!

Well if the jobs don’t come in as they used to there is no reason for me to keep paying.


Exactly.

I decided not to be a Plus subscriber because I didn't find the plus package options useful for me.

What Proz.com should understand: it is not that people can't pay the difference between the Standard and Plus Package. But after this controversial business practice: if this is done secretly without our knowledge, what is the guarantee that nothing similar or worse is done without being notified while someone is a Plus subscriber...



[Edited at 2018-07-04 16:01 GMT]


 
Linda Gunnarson
Linda Gunnarson  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 02:41
Member (2017)
English to Swedish
+ ...
why not tell us? Jul 4, 2018

Katalin Szilárd wrote:

Linda Gunnarson wrote:

Katalin Szilárd wrote:

Linda Gunnarson wrote:

The number of visitors to my profile have decreased by more than 50% since the change. I used to get plenty of good offers from people who found my profile, but I’m starting to get worried that will not be the case anymore.

I found it to be a great boost in visibility to join the Pro network a few months ago, but it seems this is no longer the case.


Probably one of the reason of this is: Only business members and Plus subscribers can contact or be contacted via profile message on Proz Mobile.



https://www.proz.com/forum/prozcom_mobile/326365-only_business_members_and_plus_subscribers_can_contact_or_be_contacted_via_profile_message.html

____________________________________________________

So if a client is looking at the directory on her/his mobile, he/she will not see the same what you see on your laptop...

I sent a support ticket a month ago (without knowing the above change) that I had very erratic profile visitors, since a long time: sometimes I had many visitors after that almost no visitors for weeks. I think they were making a test at that time on my expense (since I'm paying). Now I almost don't get any visitors from Proz Find and a very few from the normal Directory.

I am paying for this site (and many people have standard membership like I have) and there was a promise that the Plus package would not give a priority in the Directory for Plus subscribers still it does now.
Without members being notified.





[Edited at 2018-07-04 11:54 GMT]


I had no idea, thank you for telling me! So I’m paying for membership in a directory that actively encourages potential customers to use an interface that prevents them from contacting me?!

Well if the jobs don’t come in as they used to there is no reason for me to keep paying.


Exactly.

I decided not to be a Plus subscriber because I didn't find the plus package options useful for me.

What Proz.com should understand: it is not that people can't pay the difference between the Standard and Plus Package. But after this controversial business practice: if this is done secretly without our knowledge, what is the guarantee that nothing similar or worse is done without being notified while someone is a Plus subscriber...



Yes, it makes the platform very unreliable to work with. I really don’t get why they haven’t informed us about this change. If they want more people to buy the plus subscription, surely it would make sense to advertise this?


 
Katalin Szilárd
Katalin Szilárd  Identity Verified
Hungary
Local time: 02:41
English to Hungarian
+ ...
Wondering... Jul 14, 2018

Linda Gunnarson wrote:

Yes, it makes the platform very unreliable to work with. I really don’t get why they haven’t informed us about this change. If they want more people to buy the plus subscription, surely it would make sense to advertise this?


I was wondering about the reason (the trendy question: bug or deliberate?) of the following:

If you are not logged in proz.com and go to Proz Find and within the directory you click on the contact icon of somebody, you get a message that you have to log in or register to contact that person but at the same time if you click on someone's profile you can open her/his profile and you can write a message to the selected translator. I'm wondering whether everybody and from different ips are experiencing the same when you check Proz Find without logging in.

Actually if somebody is not familiar with proz.com directories (so called potential new clients) will probably not bother with registering...


Mirko Mainardi
Helen Shiner
 
Helen Shiner
Helen Shiner  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:41
German to English
+ ...
Reply from staff Jul 14, 2018

I must admit I find it unconscionable that Proz staff have not yet clarified this issue. We have been asking on this thread and others for a response for some weeks.

It may be that the relevant person is on holiday, but such an important issue needs to be addressed swiftly now.

I was a member until a few days ago. I cannot see it as a good business decision to renew until I know that the Standard membership package allows visitors to the site to contact me a) via the M
... See more
I must admit I find it unconscionable that Proz staff have not yet clarified this issue. We have been asking on this thread and others for a response for some weeks.

It may be that the relevant person is on holiday, but such an important issue needs to be addressed swiftly now.

I was a member until a few days ago. I cannot see it as a good business decision to renew until I know that the Standard membership package allows visitors to the site to contact me a) via the Mobile app, and b) without having to register with the site. Both are currently barriers to work reaching me should I continue to choose Standard membership (I am never going to go with Plus membership; it simply does not offer me anything that I would find useful).

Maybe these changes in policy are deliberate; maybe they are in part or entirely due to a glitch or glitches in the introduction of alterations on the site. Whatever the case, Proz staff need to let us know, and they need to stand by their choices or own up to temporary mistakes. I am presuming it is the latter, but we need to know.
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Linda Gunnarson
 
Henry Dotterer
Henry Dotterer
Local time: 21:41
SITE FOUNDER
TOPIC STARTER
People will be able to contact you Jul 15, 2018

Helen Shiner wrote:

I know that the Standard membership package allows visitors to the site to contact me a) via the Mobile app, and b) without having to register with the site.

Sorry for the previous post; I understand your question now.

We consider translators who are members to be our primary customer. If a potential client wants to contact you we want them to be able to do so easily and without a need to become a member.

Balancing that, there are reasons we are considering a change to require login for any significant site interactions. (This is fairly standard across the internet, for various reasons, including security. And now that we support Google, LinkedIn and Facebook login, it is fairly painless.)

I don't know exactly what change was made recently. I'll look into this.


 
Helen Shiner
Helen Shiner  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:41
German to English
+ ...
@Henry Jul 15, 2018

Requiring a prospective client to register with the site prior to contacting members may make sense in security terms, but it certainly creates a barrier. I don't recall us being notified by site staff that this change had been made.

This is the other thread, where we discuss, and ask f
... See more
Requiring a prospective client to register with the site prior to contacting members may make sense in security terms, but it certainly creates a barrier. I don't recall us being notified by site staff that this change had been made.

This is the other thread, where we discuss, and ask for comment about, Proz mobile: https://www.proz.com/forum/prozcom_mobile/326365-only_business_members_and_plus_subscribers_can_contact_or_be_contacted_via_profile_message.html

Standard members, of which I was one until a few days ago, cannot now be contacted via Proz mobile. There is no link provided to contact us. As you will see, we have been given a response from Lucia, telling us that one party in any potential contact via the Mobile app must be either a Plus subscriber or a business member. Since many of us do not wish, and will never wish, to be Plus subscribers, nor will our clients be business members, this is seriously discriminatory against Standard members. You are promoting the Mobile app heavily, thus preventing us from being contacted by prospective clients. You will see our comments on that in the thread.

If these two barriers to being contacted by clients persist, I will not be renewing my membership. Obviously, it is for others to consider their own positions. Again, this is something that has been introduced without telling us (as members). It is a massive change and a game changer to boot.
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Linda Gunnarson
Ivana UK
Mirko Mainardi
 
Katalin Szilárd
Katalin Szilárd  Identity Verified
Hungary
Local time: 02:41
English to Hungarian
+ ...
Is Proz Find search "dead"? Aug 9, 2018

Henry Dotterer wrote:

Helen Shiner wrote:

I know that the Standard membership package allows visitors to the site to contact me a) via the Mobile app, and b) without having to register with the site.

Sorry for the previous post; I understand your question now.

We consider translators who are members to be our primary customer. If a potential client wants to contact you we want them to be able to do so easily and without a need to become a member.

Balancing that, there are reasons we are considering a change to require login for any significant site interactions. (This is fairly standard across the internet, for various reasons, including security. And now that we support Google, LinkedIn and Facebook login, it is fairly painless.)

I don't know exactly what change was made recently. I'll look into this.


Hi Henry,

Is this Proz Find search tool is working/live actually?

Statistics:

I haven't received any visitors from Proz Find since a fews months.
Since May I received about 4 visitors from Proz Find!!!
Meanwhile I'm ranked as nr. 1 in medical/pharmaceutical etc. fields and also in overall I'm in the the top 3.
This means clients are hindered to contact me.
As I talked with others they experienced the same.
We have spent a lot of time to answer your questions concerning the improvement of this tool and we also pay for this site.

Please, do the right thing:
Allow all clients and users (non-logged/logged in and non-registered/registered) to contact the translators they want no matter what kind of memberships the translators have.

Bests,
Katalin

[Edited at 2018-08-10 12:51 GMT]


 
Ivana UK
Ivana UK  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:41
Member (2005)
Italian to English
+ ...
Proz Find visitors Sep 3, 2018

Katalin Szilárd wrote:

Since May I received about 4 visitors from Proz Find!!!
Meanwhile I'm ranked as nr. 1 in medical/pharmaceutical etc. fields and also in overall I'm in the the top


I'm experiencing pretty much the same - hardly any visitors to my profile page since the Proz Find directory was introduced, and I too appear in the top 5 for my language pair when doing the most basic searches

I noticed that the old directory has been reinstated but don't seem to get any traffic from there at all...


 
Katalin Szilárd
Katalin Szilárd  Identity Verified
Hungary
Local time: 02:41
English to Hungarian
+ ...
"VIP" club Sep 4, 2018

Ivana UK wrote:

Katalin Szilárd wrote:

Since May I received about 4 visitors from Proz Find!!!
Meanwhile I'm ranked as nr. 1 in medical/pharmaceutical etc. fields and also in overall I'm in the the top


I'm experiencing pretty much the same - hardly any visitors to my profile page since the Proz Find directory was introduced, and I too appear in the top 5 for my language pair when doing the most basic searches

I noticed that the old directory has been reinstated but don't seem to get any traffic from there at all...


Welcome to this "NOT exclusive VIP" club!

Added note:

When I wrote a support ticket concerning this after a while I began to receive a few visitors from Proz Find who also wrote me, but they were mainly agencies that wanted me to join to different platforms (promoted platforms), or wanted me to take part in tenders or wanted my CV, without any concrete job offerings in my fields.

[Edited at 2018-09-04 07:31 GMT]


 
Katalin Szilárd
Katalin Szilárd  Identity Verified
Hungary
Local time: 02:41
English to Hungarian
+ ...
The sad truth Sep 4, 2018

Ivana UK wrote:

I'm experiencing pretty much the same - hardly any visitors to my profile page since the Proz Find directory was introduced, and I too appear in the top 5 for my language pair when doing the most basic searches




Only after I sent my support ticket I received about 10!! visitors from Proz Find for a few days.

Site staff: "I have checked your Visitor's tab and found that you have been receiving regular visits"

Me: "Yes, I have also seen that. Somebody opened the "tap" and the "water is running" now. Although 99% of the direct emails I'm getting are going into the "trash" folder because they contain: give me your CV and data, join this promoted platform and we don't send you a job in return. Sometimes agencies are lying to have a potential job just to get translators' data."

[Edited at 2018-09-04 07:53 GMT]

[Edited at 2018-09-04 09:01 GMT]


 
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