| Σελίδες για το θέμα: < [1 2 3] | Asker directing questions specifically to ProZ.com members. Αποστολέας σε συζήτηση: Sormane Fitzgerald
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| status symbol | Jul 16, 2006 |
Chinese Concept wrote:
I just think that it's human nature that people (in general) place greater value (rightly or wrongly) on members who have paid money to the site. It's not just in this instance either it could be the difference between having a "hotmail" as an example, free email address or having your own, paid for, domain email address. If you were to receive an unsolicited email from someone with a "free" email address, chances are you would delete it in an instant but if you received it from someone with a "non free" email address then you might just be inclined to read it because psychologically you may feel a certain value or committment is already behind it.
I'm not saying it's right and I'm not saying it's fair, I just think it's a fact of life.
One of my PhD professors used to say, and wisely, that "truth" (or, as you use it, fact) is just intersubjective agreeement.
Your examples sort of remind me of the 1980's in NYC when the status symbol then was the Cartier Tank watch! People were "wrist-watchers", checking to see if new encounters wore that passport that meant success, status, professionalism, and so on. One risked being looked down upon or perceived as less valuable if one did not have this symbol proudly advertised!
And, in complete contrast, the very human and hearwarming constat when I returned to work in Vietnam in the early 90's that people there took the time to get to know you and that they judged not so much based on title, income, status symbols, clothes, but on who one is as a person.
Nope, in my case, if someone I don't know writes me with a free email address or a paying one, they have an equal chance of being read or pitched. Perhaps I am an odd duck, but I can't think of one instance where I evaluate a person's "value or commitment" based on elements of appearance - whether they be the right watch or any of the typical accoutrements of this IT era.
Beware of appearances, all that glitters is not gold and so on...
And to respond to an earlier comment Jerzy concerning purchasing what one uses (he used the example of a car), I'd just like to remind him that it is not as if non-paying users here were crashing a party to which we were not invited or cracking a code to get access to a totally private site. Proz founders chose to establish a business model with various levels of benefits and access that varies among free access, partial membership, full membership. That was their choice, I believe it was in their best interest to do so, and I thank them for that in any event. Should non-paying users feel bad for availing themselves of services offered that are largely subsidized by paying members? Do they not "give" as much as they "take"?
If this dichotomy between paying members and non paying users troubles others, there is an easy solution and that is to implement a modest fee after an initial free test period for those of us interested in participating in proz but not yet convinced of the "value" of a going Platinum. But that might change the original business model as well as curtail the implicit support Proz strives to offer a profession and an industry where participants are very pixelized and combatting increasingly the devaluation of their craft.
Food for thought...
Kind regards,
Patricia
| | | | Kirill Semenov 
Ουκρανία
Local time: 22:41
Μέλος από 2004
Αγγλικά σε Ρωσικά
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| But you CAN answer | Jul 16, 2006 |
Charlie Bavington wrote:
Members get the chance to answer all questions; users can only answer a subset.
Dear Charlie and everyone, but, afaik, you still CAN answer any question including the kind of questions discussed here.
The option (as well as `for native speakers', etc.) is just a warning expressing the asker's wish which he/she wants to express on whatever reason (I can't think of any, myself, still who knows...). Still everyone, `member' or `user', can answer the question if he/she wants.
I hope the staff or moderators correct me if I'm wrong.
| | | | | Clarification | Jul 16, 2006 |
Chinese Concept wrote:
Charlie previously brought up the conspiracy theory that the original issue was a way to move non members down the directory search list but the fact is paying members get listed seperately and above non paying members anyway. Which list will outsourcers look at first? It's human nature.
It was the Kudoz rankings, not the directory listing, that I was talking about. As I believe I said right at the start of my post...
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Kirill Semenov wrote:
Dear Charlie and everyone, but, afaik, you still CAN answer any question including the kind of questions discussed here.
The option (as well as `for native speakers', etc.) is just a warning expressing the asker's wish which he/she wants to express on whatever reason (I can't think of any, myself, still who knows...). Still everyone, `member' or `user', can answer the question if he/she wants.
I realised that after I'd posted
However, these restrictions must surely discourage answerers who do not fit the criteria given? They discourage me, anyway.
I guess it would be interesting to know how many Askers select answers from those who do not meet the criteria that the Asker initially gave....
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Tina Vonhof (X)
Καναδάς
Local time: 13:41
Ολλανδικά σε Αγγλικά
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| It's discouraging | Jul 16, 2006 |
However, these restrictions must surely discourage answerers who do not fit the criteria given? They discourage me, anyway.
I guess it would be interesting to know how many Askers select answers from those who do not meet the criteria that the Asker initially gave.... [/quote]
Charlie, I agree that it's discouraging. Before I became a paying member my reaction to this type of question was "If you don't want my expertise fine, then you don't get it."
... See more However, these restrictions must surely discourage answerers who do not fit the criteria given? They discourage me, anyway.
I guess it would be interesting to know how many Askers select answers from those who do not meet the criteria that the Asker initially gave.... [/quote]
Charlie, I agree that it's discouraging. Before I became a paying member my reaction to this type of question was "If you don't want my expertise fine, then you don't get it."
As for the askers, my guess is that they would happily accept a non-member's answer if it happened to be the best option. ▲ Collapse
| | | | LJC (X)
Γαλλία
Local time: 21:41
Γαλλικά σε Αγγλικά
+ ...
| Discouraging | Jul 17, 2006 |
Charlie Bavington wrote:
However, these restrictions must surely discourage answerers who do not fit the criteria given? They discourage me, anyway.
Of course it's discouraging, and it looks as though it's designed to discourage - especially as the words 'does not meet criteria' appear in bright red letters next to the answerer's name. But then if some askers choose to restrict their choice of answerers, that's their loss.
Lesley
| | | | Fan Gao
Αυστραλία
Local time: 07:41
Αγγλικά σε Κινεζικά
+ ...
| Don't the two go hand in hand? | Jul 17, 2006 |
Charlie Bavington wrote:
Chinese Concept wrote:
Charlie previously brought up the conspiracy theory that the original issue was a way to move non members down the directory search list but the fact is paying members get listed seperately and above non paying members anyway. Which list will outsourcers look at first? It's human nature.
It was the Kudoz rankings, not the directory listing, that I was talking about. As I believe I said right at the start of my post...
Doesn't the directory listing use Kudoz ranking as it's prime sorting method? Maybe I misunderstood the point you were making but I thought you were saying that by non paying members being restricted to answering questions then they would receive less Kudoz points and in turn move lower down the directory list.
Mark
| | | | | You're not wrong! | Jul 17, 2006 |
Chinese Concept wrote:
Doesn't the directory listing use Kudoz ranking as it's prime sorting method? Maybe I misunderstood the point you were making but I thought you were saying that by non paying members being restricted to answering questions then they would receive less Kudoz points and in turn move lower down the directory list.
Mark
Quite so, old boy. I'd never looked at the directory before today, to tell the truth, so didn't realise that (after membership), kudoz is the sorting method. Hence my possibly misguided emphasis on kudoz pure and simple.
However, the fact remains that I still see the point of the restriction as being to limit, in general, the points that non-members can get (and still think that the restriction is of no value in terms of quality of answers to individual questions per se).
And the truth is that if a non-member with lots of points decided to become a member, they would obviously shoot to the top of the directory listing - if you look at the points tables for my pair, you'll see many non-members occupying top spot in various specialised fields. If such folks' situation changes (I know that some of them are in permanent jobs, for example), they can become top of the directory pile by paying for membership.
Like I said, it doesn't appear to work like this since the feature isn't used much, but I think that limiting non-member points is (probably) the purpose.
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| Members who desire it can now have a members-only experience | Jul 17, 2006 |
Sormane Fitzgerald Gomes wrote:
Thank you for your post letting me know that it was requested by some users or members. But the other part of my question still remains open - what was the reasoning behind it?
I could well request (or even suggest that ProZ offers an option) that only cat lovers would answer my questions. But the point is, what's the purpose of it? And that is my question. I am not questioning the right to choose that. I just want to understand why that suggestion was accepted and implemented by ProZ. That's all.
Hi Sormane.
I can't speak for the reasoning that went into the suggestion, and won't relay all the positions put forward when this was discussed, but I will say what stuck with me about the suggestion.
Some people have argued that KudoZ would be better off as a members-only function. I tend to disagree, but for those who feel strongly about this, we now provide the option to have a members-only experience, at least when it comes to their own questions. In other words, a member who wants a members-only experience can now have it. (Or something close to it; based on user feedback, we made "targeting" a form of guidance, rather than a restriction.)
There is no presumption inherent in this function that being a member makes one a better translator. After all, all that is required for one to become a "member" is making a payment. (Incidentally, the same is true of some professional associations--among them the ATA.)
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