| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5] > | Strange email about a "new service" Thread poster: Kate Tomkins
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Sheila Wilson 
Spain
Local time: 20:06
Member (2007)
English
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| Thank you for replying | Aug 4, 2015 |
Kevin Dias wrote:
please be fair and do not intentionally spread misinformation
I will certainly strive to be objective. But there's another thing I find rather confusing now, and that's this statement:
While TM-Town makes it possible for translation buyers to meet and order translations from translators registered with TM-Town, TM-Town does not itself offer translation services to clients.
This seems to be in conflict with what is said to potential translation buyers. When I eventually found out how to simulate a request for translation on the site (a link at the bottom of the "About" page appears to be the sole mention), I was offered the choice of four prices for translation, another four if I wished to include a proofreading step, and an optional "rush" surcharge. I would then have had to pay TM-Town to complete the order (after registering).
Isn't that an example of TM-Town offering translation services to clients? I assumed your statement to mean that TM-Town was a marketplace, similar to ProZ.com, where translators would be free to enter into negotiation with clients and to name their own terms and conditions. In reality, the only communication I can see between the two parties is a box enabling the buyer to leave instructions for the translator. I imagine the translator must then invoice TM-Town, not the client (who has already paid). That is TM-Town performing as an agency, is it not?
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Local time: 04:06
| Would love your suggestions | Aug 4, 2015 |
Hi Sheila,
You raise a good point. That is a line I added to the Terms of Service today in response to the misconception I heard that (paraphrasing) "TM-Town is stealing your TMs to use for its own clients". I struggled with the wording and I would definitely be open to any suggestions on how to improve it.
The point of that line is to make it clear that TM-Town does not have any of its own clients.
There are 2 ways that a translator could get contacted fo... See more Hi Sheila,
You raise a good point. That is a line I added to the Terms of Service today in response to the misconception I heard that (paraphrasing) "TM-Town is stealing your TMs to use for its own clients". I struggled with the wording and I would definitely be open to any suggestions on how to improve it.
The point of that line is to make it clear that TM-Town does not have any of its own clients.
There are 2 ways that a translator could get contacted for a job on TM-Town.
1) A client purchases translation directly from TM-Town’s site and as a translator you are selected as the most suitable translator for the job (and the job is above your "Don't Bother Me Rate"). As you mentioned, the prices are fixed. As a translator you would be given all of the information on the job beforehand - the rate of the job, the rate you would earn and the % TM-Town would take - and you could choose to take the job or not.
2) Clients can contact translators directly through their TM-Town public profile. There is a “Message Translator” button. Translators are free to contact that client as they wish and can do the whole transaction outside of TM-Town if they so choose.
So the point of that line you quoted is to make it clear that TM-Town does not secretly have its own clients on the side.
Kevin ▲ Collapse
| | | | | questions and thoughts | Aug 4, 2015 |
A lot of work and time has gone into the creation of this site. I am sure it is not all altruistic. Registering in the site is free. So how does the company make its money? Do clients pay a kind of service charge so that if the translator is charging $250 for the translation, the company gets paid $270 ($250 for the translator's fee - $20 service charge)? Does the company keep a percentage of the translator's earnings?
I looked at the sample profile. The translator is describe... See more A lot of work and time has gone into the creation of this site. I am sure it is not all altruistic. Registering in the site is free. So how does the company make its money? Do clients pay a kind of service charge so that if the translator is charging $250 for the translation, the company gets paid $270 ($250 for the translator's fee - $20 service charge)? Does the company keep a percentage of the translator's earnings?
I looked at the sample profile. The translator is described in terms of "units" that he has translated. The list of translators shows "units". It seems to show a basic misunderstanding of what professional translation is about. There is a lot more to it than counts of groups of words.
A translator's "suitability" is being assessed through software which has been programmed to do comparison through terminology for its "assessment". That is also not how it works. For example, part of my attributes as a translator is being able to give a customized product by working hand-in-hand with my clients, and some clients have that need specifically. Another involves being able to work with words, creating the right phrasing to suit the occasion and context. None of these very essential things are pesent in this way of assessing (which I am tempted to keep in quotation marks).
As you mentioned, the prices are fixed.
This in itself is wrong. My clients - and that includes agencies / translation companies - ask me my price. It has been so for 25 years. Neither customers or any hosting site should be setting prices. Based on what examination and assessment on their part, and what kind of expertise? It would be a step down.
CONFIDENTIALITY is the big area of concern. No programming is infallible. I would not store my clients' confidential material on Net, especially when it is only for statistics in these assessments. In fact, many clients have confidentiality clauses that include destroying everything upon completion.
When it comes to earning money and staying viable professionally, TRUST is a very important element. My clients choose me for reliability and trustworthiness, and that includes doing everything possible to keep their info safe. My own computer and procedures that are under my control and knowledge are the best way of doing this. ▲ Collapse
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Local time: 04:06
Hi Maxi,
Thank you for your thoughts, feedback and questions. I'll do my best to try to answer them.
Maxi Schwarz wrote:
Registering in the site is free. So how does the company make its money? Do clients pay a kind of service charge so that if the translator is charging $250 for the translation, the company gets paid $270 ($250 for the translator's fee - $20 service charge)? Does the company keep a percentage of the translator's earnings?
TM-Town has just had its first sales over the past month (in the TM-Town Terminology Marketplace - thank you!), so the idea is to find and develop more services of value to translators and keep growing the community and business from there.
TM-Town takes a 20% commission on sales on the TM-Town Terminology Marketplace. For translation orders, the pricing is currently as follows:
Standard
Clients pay: $0.08/word
Translators earn: $0.065/word
Business
Clients pay: $0.12/word
Translators earn: $0.10/word
Premium
Clients pay: $0.18/word
Translators earn: $0.15/word
Specialist
Clients pay: $0.30/word
Translators earn: $0.255/word
However, as I mentioned in the previous post, on your TM-Town profile there is a button where visitors (clients, LSPs, etc.) can message you directly. You could then set your own rates and do the transaction completely outside of TM-Town.
I want to keep TM-Town free for translators but I could imagine in the future that there may be new tools developed for translators that could be an additional add-on that could be purchased (while an account with the same functionality available now would remain free).
Maxi Schwarz wrote:
I looked at the sample profile. The translator is described in terms of "units" that he has translated. The list of translators shows "units". It seems to show a basic misunderstanding of what professional translation is about. There is a lot more to it than counts of groups of words.
I agree. Translation units is one of many heuristics that a visitor to your profile could use to evaluate you (others being - your native language, the CAT tools you are familiar with, the fields you have done work in, etc... the list goes on).
Maxi Schwarz wrote:
A translator's "suitability" is being assessed through software which has been programmed to do comparison through terminology for its "assessment". That is also not how it works. For example, part of my attributes as a translator is being able to give a customized product by working hand-in-hand with my clients, and some clients have that need specifically. Another involves being able to work with words, creating the right phrasing to suit the occasion and context. None of these very essential things are pesent in this way of assessing (which I am tempted to keep in quotation marks).
I think being able to find a translator who has expertise in the field of the translation and has done similar work in the past is most definitely one form of "suitability". All things being equal, if you have two translators who have both done work in EN-DE medical the next step is to examine the other parts of their profile (how does the translator present himself/herself? How long has she/he been working in the industry? What have other clients said about her/him? Does she/he have a good feedback rating?). I think analyzing the terminology of prior work to get a list of suitable translators and then working from there is legitimate.
Maxi Schwarz wrote:
CONFIDENTIALITY is the big area of concern. No programming is infallible. I would not store my clients' confidential material on Net, especially when it is only for statistics in these assessments. In fact, many clients have confidentiality clauses that include destroying everything upon completion.
Without a doubt you should never violate a NDA or agreement you have signed with a client. Additionally sensitive documents (for example medical records) should never be uploaded.
As I mentioned previously in this thread:
1) TM-Town also has a confidential information redaction tool: https://www.tm-town.com/blog/confidential-information-redactor. You can see a video of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8x1F-DYMWA. I built this feature as even though every document is private and secure, translators had expressed concerns similar to yours. Thus I thought this would be a great feature as TM-Town's matching algorithm is heavily focused on domain specific terminology and removing confidential information such as names, places, dates, numbers, emails or web addresses will not affect the ability of the algorithm to select the best translator for a job.
2) A document you upload does not necessarily need to be something you have done for a client. For example you could upload a translation you did of something that is public (i.e. a Wikipedia page in your field of expertise). In the future I would potentially like to add this functionality into TM-Town - give translators the option to translate a small public sample in their field of expertise instead of uploading a document.
Kevin
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 21:06
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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| No, API should be opt-out | Aug 4, 2015 |
Michael Beijer wrote:
All joking aside though, for a moment, I agree with Sheila, in that this API thing should be automatically opt-out, until users actively opt in.
Something is "opt-in" if you are not automatically subscribed to it but must specifically "opt in" to become part of it. Something is "opt-out" if you are automatically subscribed to it and you have to deliberately "opt out" of it if you don't want to be subscribed to it. So the API is already "opt-out".
And I think it should be like that. If the API would only work for translators who specifically opted in, the number of users would be quite small, which means it won't be useful. Right now, the API enables more clients to find me, even though they haven't visited ProZ.com's own web site.
And there should be a lot more transparency about the whole thing (which third parties are using it, how they are using it, etc.).
Yes, I too would like to see who has API access.
No need to click the link. Simply go to your profile page, click the "Settings" tab, and you'll find the API options right there (towards the bottom, on the left), in plain sight, along with all the other preferences and settings for your account.
| | | | Kate Tomkins
Local time: 20:06
German to English
TOPIC STARTER | More questions | Aug 4, 2015 |
1. "TM-Town takes a 20% commission on sales on the TM-Town Terminology Marketplace. For translation orders, the pricing is currently as follows:
Standard
Clients pay: $0.08/word
Translators earn: $0.065/word
Business
Clients pay: $0.12/word
Translators earn: $0.10/word
Premium
Clients pay: $0.18/word
Translators earn: $0.15/word
Specialist
Clients pay: $0.30/word
Translators earn: $0.255/word"
... See more 1. "TM-Town takes a 20% commission on sales on the TM-Town Terminology Marketplace. For translation orders, the pricing is currently as follows:
Standard
Clients pay: $0.08/word
Translators earn: $0.065/word
Business
Clients pay: $0.12/word
Translators earn: $0.10/word
Premium
Clients pay: $0.18/word
Translators earn: $0.15/word
Specialist
Clients pay: $0.30/word
Translators earn: $0.255/word"
What does the "Premium" service involve which the "standard" does not? I am guessing that the premium service also includes a proofreader. So where does the money come from for the proofreading?
2. The TM Town information states that the more TUs a translator uploads, the higher up the list they will be and the more potential customers will see them. If most of a translator's work is strictly confidential and they only upload a few small samples, they will be much worse off than a translator who has uploaded all of their TUs. How does this help clients find the best specialist translators?
3. Why is it so difficult to find where to go on TM Town if you are a client? The way it has been set up, it seems like TM Town does not want any paying clients, only translators. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | worries, thoughts and questions | Aug 4, 2015 |
What worries me is that TM-Town does not seem to include any type of verification of its members or their claims.
TM-Town states that "that the directory is organized based on work that has been previously completed. Translators don't just say what they can do, they show it -- by uploading their previous work."
Who verifies where the uploaded translation units come from?
TM is widely available at a price, or for free. Anyone can download IATE's database, to... See more What worries me is that TM-Town does not seem to include any type of verification of its members or their claims.
TM-Town states that "that the directory is organized based on work that has been previously completed. Translators don't just say what they can do, they show it -- by uploading their previous work."
Who verifies where the uploaded translation units come from?
TM is widely available at a price, or for free. Anyone can download IATE's database, to name a large one. Free alignment tools can create TUs from bilingual files downloaded from the web in seconds...
For all I know, anyone claiming thousands of translation units on TM-Town may well have spent a couple of weekends foraging translation units produced by others...
TM-Town further claims "to create a better translation world through technology and specialization".
Who verifies the specialist's claimed expertise?
Same issue as above: gathering TUs is easy - in any field. Large numbers of TUs on a profile say nothing about a person's (claimed) expertise. In fact, browsing the translators on the TM-Town platform I saw a few 'legal specialists' that I wouldn't use for legal translations if my life depended on it.
If I were an outsourcer I would tread with extreme caution. Translation is much more than heaps of TUs.
As a translator, as yet I feel no need to add my name to a platform that seems to be driven by (readily available) translation units rather than quality.
What is TM-Town's approach to these issues?
[Edited at 2015-08-04 21:37 GMT]
[Edited at 2015-08-04 22:05 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Local time: 04:06
| Thanks for the questions | Aug 5, 2015 |
Hi Kate and Sindy,
Thank you for the questions. I'll try my best to answer.
KateKaminski wrote:
What does the "Premium" service involve which the "standard" does not? I am guessing that the premium service also includes a proofreader. So where does the money come from for the proofreading?
Please see the TM-Town pricing page for a description of each tier. Proofreading is a separate price point for each tier.
KateKaminski wrote:
2. The TM Town information states that the more TUs a translator uploads, the higher up the list they will be and the more potential customers will see them. If most of a translator's work is strictly confidential and they only upload a few small samples, they will be much worse off than a translator who has uploaded all of their TUs. How does this help clients find the best specialist translators?
Yes, generally speaking the more TUs a translator uploads the higher she/he will appear in the TM-Town directory. When a client orders translation, the process is different and the document will be analyzed and the terminology analysis will be used to find the best specialist. In this case, a translator who has uploaded only a few small samples could easily come out on top if there is a lot of similarity between the source document the client needs translated and the work that translator has loaded into the system.
3. Why is it so difficult to find where to go on TM Town if you are a client? The way it has been set up, it seems like TM Town does not want any paying clients, only translators.
As I mentioned in a previous post in this thread my initial focus with TM-Town has been on translators and building tools that translators can get value out of even if they do not get work from the platform immediately.
Also as previously mentioned:
Additionally I would say that end clients (or LSPs) can message you directly through your public TM-Town profile. In this way you could use TM-Town and potentially get clients from TM-Town without ever "going through TM-Town". TM-Town does have the infrastructure to handle payments for you, but if a client messages you directly and you choose to work with them outside of TM-Town, that is fine too. The ultimate goal is to make it so easy, convenient and safe for you as a translator that you would prefer to have your clients just pay you through TM-Town. I don't think TM-Town is there yet, but I am working hard to get it there.
Yes, paying clients would be great, but my focus before that is to make TM-Town a place that translators want to sign up for because they get value out of it and TM-Town can help them manage their TMs and terms and build their translation business. Spending my time chasing clients and selling to them would be one strategy, but I have decided to go with a different strategy...to focus on the translator. Give translators tools they can use to improve their business. Allow translators to be messaged directly through their profile. I think if I can keep improving TM-Town for translators and can attract the best translators in the world to the platform then the clients will come...because at that point TM-Town will be the most convenient and easiest place to find the best specialist for the job.
Success doesn't happen overnight, and I think there is still a long, hard road ahead to make TM-Town a great platform, but I hope that the "early-adopters" who have tried out TM-Town, emailed me, given me feedback, made feature requests, will ultimately be rewarded. I'll keep working hard every day to make that happen.
Sindy Cremer wrote:
What worries me is that TM-Town does not seem to include any type of verification of its members or their claims.
TM-Town states that "that the directory is organized based on work that has been previously completed. Translators don't just say what they can do, they show it -- by uploading their previous work."
Who verifies where the uploaded translation units come from?
TM is widely available at a price, or for free. Anyone can download IATE's database, to name a large one. Free alignment tools can create TUs from bilingual files downloaded from the web in seconds...
For all I know, anyone claiming thousands of translation units on TM-Town may well have spent a couple of weekends foraging translation units produced by others...
TM-Town further claims "to create a better translation world through technology and specialization".
Who verifies the specialist's claimed expertise?
Same issue as above: gathering TUs is easy - in any field. Large numbers of TUs on a profile say nothing about a person's (claimed) expertise. In fact, browsing the translators on the TM-Town platform I saw a few 'legal specialists' that I wouldn't use for legal translations if my life depended on it.
If I were an outsourcer I would tread with extreme caution. Translation is much more than heaps of TUs.
As a translator, as yet I feel no need to add my name to a platform that seems to be driven by (readily available) translation units rather than quality.
What is TM-Town's approach to these issues?
Hi Sindy,
This is a great question and something I work on and think about a lot - and something that will become even more crucial as TM-Town grows.
Currently there are a few options a translator can control on a document she/he has uploaded. Currently these options are not as prominent as I would like them to be and I am planning on making some changes this week that I will describe below after I tell you the different options.
Reference Only
If you did not translate the segments in this file, but you would like to keep it on TM-Town for storage or reference purposes, please choose this option.
Documents marked as "Reference Only" will not count towards your translation unit or term concept count.
Proofread Only / Partially Translated
If you only proofread this document, and did not do the translation yourself, please select this option. Additionally, if this document was only partially translated by you, please select this option.
You will still get limited credit in matching based on work that you have proofread only / partially translated; however, it will not be as much as documents you have translated yourself.
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Changes coming over the next week(s):
I plan to force translators to declare a document when they upload it (if it meets any of the criteria above). If it becomes clear that a translator misrepresented a document the appropriate action will be taken.
TM-Town also has some behind the scenes features to detect public TMs and those documents will automatically be marked as reference only.
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Regardless of the above, there could/will still be cases where a translator misrepresents document(s) as their own. However, in these cases there are certain red flags and TM-Town takes proactive steps to deal with these issues.
Yet still there will be cases where a translator slips through...but then they will get a job and it will be immediately clear from the quality that they have misrepresented their background and work and the appropriate action will be taken. (TM-Town always has another translator(s) spot check a translation done by a "first-time" translator on TM-Town).
As you can see, there are various steps TM-Town currently takes (and more to come in the future) regarding the issues you bring up, but just like on any platform there will be the potential for abuse. I think the important thing is that this is something I take very seriously and spend a lot of time thinking about, and will continue to improve...and will always be sure to take proactive steps to take care of issues that come up.
Kevin
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Kevin Dias wrote:
Anyway here are the TM-Town Terms of Service:
It can be browsed online, and downloaded as a file, ONLY BY YOU. Other TM-Town users can not see or download it.
TMs you upload can NOT be searched or leveraged by others.
TM-Town staff are able to access TMs. This is necessary for the purposes of providing customer service and optimizing the functionality of the TM-Town service.
The first two points say only you can browse the TMs you upload. The third says TM-Town staff have access. What exactly does "access" entail? Who are these staff members and how thoroughly have they been vetted?
There's also an ad on the side of the forum that says "TM-Town is a unique new website for you...to store, manage and share translation memories" (emphasis mine). Share them with who? I thought only you could view your own TMs.
I like the idea behind the site, but in these days of security breaches and hacking scandals, you have your work cut out for you convincing translators that confidential client information will never, ever, ever be leaked.
[Edited at 2015-08-05 00:27 GMT]
[Edited at 2015-08-05 00:27 GMT]
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Local time: 04:06
Hi TransAfrique,
TransAfrique wrote:
The first two points say only you can browse the TMs you upload. The third says TM-Town staff have access. What exactly does "access" entail? Who are these staff members and how thoroughly have they been vetted?
Currently it is only me. I am the only TM-Town staff member at this current time.
TransAfrique wrote:
There's also an ad on the side of the forum that says "TM-Town is a unique new website for you...to store, manage and share translation memories" (emphasis mine). Share them with who? I thought only you could view your own TMs.
To clear up any confusion on sharing on TM-Town - TMs can not be made public or shared publicly; however, there is a feature to share a specific document you have uploaded with another member of TM-Town. The point of this feature would be if you are collaborating with a translator on a project. This feature can also be used with the CafeTran integration so that a translator can work simultaneously with another translator on a shared TM in real-time from within CafeTran.
There is no option though to make a TM public or share a TM publicly.
So yes, only you can view your TMs, but you have the option to share a document with another TM-Town member for purposes of collaboration on a project.
Kevin
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Thanks for the clarification.
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Michael Beijer wrote: Tom in London wrote: ....."The API's have been available for many years.... That's a possessive. "API's" is in fact how a Dutchman would have written it...
Haha! I am not Dutch but I like Dutch people and apart from that my father, uncle and grandfather have all been called "Dutch" by friends. So thanks for the compliment!
In fact I actually went back and forth on the use of that particular apostrophe, and in the end went with it intentionally. It is not the possessive type of apostrophe, neither is it (apparently) the Dutch type; it is the type of apostrophe described here: https://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/acronyms.html
Your reaction makes me think that maybe I made the wrong choice.
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After reading this entire thread carefully, I found that Sheila's points stand. This automatic opting-in without clear consent from me is a really bad start.
1) At this point, taking into account that the general (sad) trend in ALL industries in the post-information/big-data era is to "legally" get as much data as possible and present it in ways that severely mislead people who peruse it, to "partially" use information gained from an original website without EXPLICIT permission from... See more After reading this entire thread carefully, I found that Sheila's points stand. This automatic opting-in without clear consent from me is a really bad start.
1) At this point, taking into account that the general (sad) trend in ALL industries in the post-information/big-data era is to "legally" get as much data as possible and present it in ways that severely mislead people who peruse it, to "partially" use information gained from an original website without EXPLICIT permission from the people providing that information, I find this otherwise very bright idea muddled in dark waters.
I've translated too many websites' and online services' T&Cs to know that "convenience" is a very wide-spread excuse when they want to change these terms, and for the sake of convenience, they send you a message that says "if you don't opt out within X days, we consider you opted in" instead of "if you don't opt in within X days, we'll consider you opted out and delete your account". This is the general trend of the past decade, and I bet all translators of T&Cs can see it develop before our very eyes. Basically, what Michael Beijer said. The norm is: "Hello dear user! Since we'd probably lose quite a few of our users if we actually asked you to accept a new important change to our T&Cs (and we cannot have that, because we need to make more and more profit and that depends on the monstrous growth of our user database), we'll just tell you that it's somehow your responsibility to get informed every single time we change something and opt-out if you don't agree, instead of our deleting your profile, as would be more responsible." Instead, they just go on with their constant changes, updates and "fixes", managing to slip in privacy updates or other changes that benefit the company, like we see in smartphone Apps and Windows updates. Same old story. So yes, I've seen statements like "XCompanyX does NOT, and will NOT, learn, train or otherwise use the content of your YAccountY and ZProfileZ to its own benefit. " being abused so often by different interpretations of the clause "its own benefit" that I've become very cynical when I read them, and rightfully so, I think.
2) What business does TM-town have in setting its own rates, while displaying my profile? This is very clearly an implication that I, as a translator, accept or use TM-town's rates, for some inexplicable reason. Maxi's point on the pricing is on the spot.
Kevin, I know you need to make money somehow, but I would urge you to change the model. If you're going to do something so ambitious, you need to be much more transparent than that. For the record, since most people seem to be talking pretty honestly in this thread, I'll do the same: too many companies who have pretty decent T&Cs and have signed contracts of confidentially have broken these for their own benefit. And I think it's fair to say that with the current business model by which corporations operate, it's extremely easy to do it. So, again, nothing personal, but what really stops a company like TM-town from amassing huge quantities of TMs and secretly sharing or using them for whatever purpose it deems most beneficial to it?
What I mean to say is that quantity matters a lot here. If I entrust a Microsoft cloud server with a few thousands of UIs per year, it won't be the end of the world if someone from the company or the company itself abuses it. Even though most of my work is cloud-based, most of it is still spread across many different services. But each has a very specific field of expertise and not the enormous kind of big-data gathering that I see TM-town performing. To me, this seems more alike Facebook's tactics of data mining (and I think we all know how transparent Facebook has been with its users). If any one company like TM-town ends up getting the TMs of even a tiny percentage of work carried out by a small percentage of professional translators, the value of the resulting TM will be immeasurable, to say the least. And your company's T&Cs and structure does not convince me (for now) that it is ready to become appropriate care taker of such information. I don't know what would, but surely not this. Probably a public database shared by many nations of the world (I'd rather it wasn't governments but some collective owned by the contributing translators directly). Utopian, I know, but it still seems to me much better than TM-town's model.
PS: I am relatively young, and yet I am already getting fed-up by the complexity, stress and ADHD-inducing stimuli that we seem to be constantly adding to everything we do via IT. I am not sure why people think ever-GREATER productivity is the meaning of life and humanity's existence. Every day, my brain is swarming with more and more different CAT tools, different server configurations, constant updates and a generic information overload. So, I guess in the future I'll have to upload my own TMs online to match myself with clients, for the sake of "convenience"? And whose convenience? Not mine, I wager: most veteran translators seem to think that our profession is much worse off today than how it used to be. More stress, equal or worse pay, pointlessly short deadlines and a constant need for learning new "tools" to make things go faster. Ah, but I guess that a future iteration of TM-town or another model like it will simplify things for me (typical) with but a couple of clicks, by automatically drawing my TMs from all tools I use to perform its task. Until the next "convenient" tool and some more upgrades come along (too quickly for my human brain to appreciate). Funny how I don't see my income rising or my work hours dropping, despite all this convenience and productivity increase. Egad... ▲ Collapse
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Local time: 04:06
| ProZ.com API Results Removed | Aug 7, 2015 |
Hello Georgios,
Thanks for your feedback.
Georgios T. wrote:
This is very clearly an implication that I, as a translator, accept or use TM-town's rates, for some inexplicable reason.
This is a good point and was never the intention when I added the ProZ.com API results to the TM-Town directory search. The point was to make the directory more useful to visitors of the site (and hopefully help some translators get clients - even if she/he was not a TM-Town member). The ProZ.com results went directly to one’s ProZ.com profile and were completely independent of purchasing translation on TM-Town. I thought the TM-Town UI made it clear that the additional results were coming from the ProZ.com API, but I can understand how this could easily be misunderstood or not clear.
I have completely removed the ProZ.com API results from the TM-Town directory search and I apologize to the ProZ.com members who had appeared in the results.
Georgios T. wrote:
So yes, I've seen statements like "XCompanyX does NOT, and will NOT, learn, train or otherwise use the content of your YAccountY and ZProfileZ to its own benefit. " being abused so often by different interpretations of the clause "its own benefit" that I've become very cynical when I read them, and rightfully so, I think.
So, again, nothing personal, but what really stops a company like TM-town from amassing huge quantities of TMs and secretly sharing or using them for whatever purpose it deems most beneficial to it?
I can understand how you would be cynical. As you say I think there have been a lot of companies that have abused user privacy in the past…and many companies that are currently abusing user privacy. I hate that as much as you. Which is why I took a lot of time to make TM-Town’s Terms of Service as clear, straightforward, and IMO fair as possible. I wanted something that was plain English clear (has anyone ever actually read the iTunes Terms of Service - no, it is waaayy to long and full of incomprehensible legalese).
As I say in the message when a translator signs up to TM-Town:
I am aware that any site asking you to upload your translation work must earn your trust. Please know that I take privacy and security very seriously and I hope you'll find TM-Town's Terms of Service are clear, fair and translator-friendly.
So, if you don’t believe that TM-Town will honor its Terms of Service, then there is really nothing I could say in this thread that will change your mind. All I can really say is that I will keep working hard to earn everyone’s trust and that I stand by TM-Town’s Terms of Service and they will be honored.
Kevin
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 21:06
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Kevin Dias wrote:
I have completely removed the ProZ.com API results from the TM-Town directory search, and I apologize to the ProZ.com members who had appeared in the results.
That's a pity, because none of the participants who would appreciate your apology are likely to offer any apology to all the rest of ProZ.com's members who would now be excluded from the results.
Instead of removing the ProZ.com results, why not simply add a link at the bottom of the search results called "Also search ProZ.com's directory for translators" that, if clicked, will display such results. Another idea is to add such a link only if the TM Town result is very small.
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