February 03, 2004
I'm a Star!
Yay for me! I got a star!
As it the case with most discussion forums on the Net, after you have posted a certain number of times, your rank changes at Translator's Cafe. I, having posted the incredible number of 25 messages, have the pleasure and honor of receiving this glorious and illustrious designation of my rank:
Amazing, isn't it?
I've always been sort of fascinated by these little ranking systems. They really signify nothing at all besides an indication of how often you like to post messages. At most they are a symbol of seniority (in the Internet sense of the word, which is basically "having been around longer.")
Yet the initial impression is that they represent the expertise and knowledge a person has, especially when used on a site like the Cafe. If you see someone who's posted enough to receive 5 or 6 stars, you usually assume they know what they're talking about.
A lot of times they do, of course. But little stars are certainly no guarantee.
Posted by steve at February 3, 2004 09:50 AMComment from someone with plenty of stars: rankings on such websites don't mean a thing. Especially when you look at the KudoZ system on ProZ: points are awarded for the most inane and most incompetent answers. The KudoZ Hall of Fame should really be called "Hall of Shame" (for those "KudoZ stars" seem to have too much time on their hands (answering tons of questions across all language pairs); in other words, they can't be too busy as "professional translators".
Posted by: Werner George Patels at February 3, 2004 07:44 PMI have also thought that the Kudoz system was rather silly. It generates a lot of buzz and excitement and perceived competition over trivial things. On the other hand, I have found it useful occasionally for help with difficult terminology - as long as I pay attention to who's giving the help and how reliable the help is.
I also think it's a clever ploy on the part of the Proz creators to generate a lot of interest in their site. Regardless of the system's credibility, it does require lots of user involvement and gives them tangible, if meaningless, rewards. And that's one thing that keeps people coming back to your site. So in that sense, it's a success.
Whether it contributes to the profession in a meaningful way is, as you said, questionable at best.
Posted by: steve at February 3, 2004 07:59 PM