| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] | Have you perceived certain harassment or bullying on the KudoZ forum? Thread poster: José Julián Díaz
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| It might be age-related | Jan 26, 2023 |
I get the impression that quite a few translators are in the 'senior' age group. My 72-year-old husband is happy to insult politicians and other people when they appear on TV but maybe these nitpickers prefer to vent their bad feelings on the KudoZ forum. I remember my mother-in-law telling her 90-year-old mother to keep quiet whenever she wanted to give her opinion on a matter. I used to feel quite sorry for her.
My sisters (one in the Uk and the other one in France) both say that... See more I get the impression that quite a few translators are in the 'senior' age group. My 72-year-old husband is happy to insult politicians and other people when they appear on TV but maybe these nitpickers prefer to vent their bad feelings on the KudoZ forum. I remember my mother-in-law telling her 90-year-old mother to keep quiet whenever she wanted to give her opinion on a matter. I used to feel quite sorry for her.
My sisters (one in the Uk and the other one in France) both say that everyone seems more aggressive since lockdown, and I agree with them. It's a shame, but we form part of an ageing and often unfriendly society. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I was surprised to read about bullying | Jan 26, 2023 |
There is some manipulation going on in my KudoZ section, but I haven't seen anything I could call harassment or bullying, even towards someone regularly giving stupid answers. Actually, there's only one such person I can think of (not that the rest of us never give stupid answers, but that person is really a piece of work, which is what makes them a good source of entertainment). Overall, I find Russian KudoZ a great hub with lots of very knowledgeable people and plenty of great translation idea... See more There is some manipulation going on in my KudoZ section, but I haven't seen anything I could call harassment or bullying, even towards someone regularly giving stupid answers. Actually, there's only one such person I can think of (not that the rest of us never give stupid answers, but that person is really a piece of work, which is what makes them a good source of entertainment). Overall, I find Russian KudoZ a great hub with lots of very knowledgeable people and plenty of great translation ideas. Machine translation-like answers are pretty rare (as are simple questions). My personal anti-manipulation rules are not too use the"Disagree" option at all (I think I only used it once at the very beginning), not to use the plain "Agree" option without a comment, to use arguments rather than links to sources, and not to bend over backwards trying to win points. On the negative side, btw, our KudoZ has been quite uneventful lately ▲ Collapse
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José Julián Díaz wrote:
I’d like you to share your thoughts on this reflection of mine…
So where do we go from here?
What exactly are you asking?
| | | | | People, if you haven't seen/consulted the ENGLISH > SPANISH forum, please, do it before posting! | Jan 31, 2023 |
"Someone" on a huge ego trip -like magistrally pointed by B Ramírez de Haro-, was consistently bothering others; now (maybe since he has been warned) has passed from monopolizing the Discussion Section, to put references in order to discredit others (still putting "disagrees" on personal feelings, rather than objective considerations). People like that should be banned from Kudoz, simply and shortly.
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| Oh, for sure! | Feb 25, 2023 |
I've been observing this "bullying" behavior since I became a member over 12 years ago. And yes, they are almost always the same people. In the last few years, they seem to have teamed up, but that's just speculation.
I think of them as a "gang" (actually, my pet name for them is "the wolf-pack" because of their marauding behavior). They are motivated by ego and that makes them vulnerable. I have always been able to play on that to irritate them more than they irritate me (all withi... See more I've been observing this "bullying" behavior since I became a member over 12 years ago. And yes, they are almost always the same people. In the last few years, they seem to have teamed up, but that's just speculation.
I think of them as a "gang" (actually, my pet name for them is "the wolf-pack" because of their marauding behavior). They are motivated by ego and that makes them vulnerable. I have always been able to play on that to irritate them more than they irritate me (all within the Rulez, of course). Responding in a politely dismissive manner is very effective. Egos can't stand being ignored. Hence my ego-theory has gained strength over the years.
Even when they gang up on me with "disagrees," they are not enough to override the "agrees" I get, and when they do, it is for a minor term that was "meh" to begin with.
One of them got so angry at my dismissal that he tried to harass me directly, through email. He seemed to be offended that a Latino would dare to presume translating into English. (But that is speculation also.) Again, I just quoted the Kudoz Rulez to him and eventually he went away. That was over 10 years ago. But I considered the attack serious enough to keep those emails. I still have them, in fact. Just in case. You never know with these types.
I have my way of dealing with them but I do agree that a professional forum like ours should not tolerate this kind of hostility. We are all here trying to do serious work and having to swat at these immature egos is a distraction, if nothing else.
I notice that almost everyone that agrees with this discussion translates the same language pairs that I do. So this may be a problem only in the Spanish to English or English to Spanish Kudoz forums, but I wouldn't doubt that the same phenomenon occurs in other language pairs, perhaps with other "egos" and to a lesser or greater degree than it does in our sections.
I'm sorry to hear that others have been harassed by them. But I'm not surprised.
I hope this discussion will motivate a positive change.
[Edited at 2023-02-25 23:00 GMT]
[Edited at 2023-02-25 23:02 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Steven Huddleston wrote:
I've been observing this "bullying" behavior since I became a member over 12 years ago. And yes, they are almost always the same people. In the last few years, they seem to have teamed up, but that's just speculation.
I think of them as a "gang" (actually, my pet name for them is "the wolf-pack" because of their marauding behavior). They are motivated by ego and that makes them vulnerable. I have always been able to play on that to irritate them more than they irritate me (all within the Rulez, of course). Responding in a politely dismissive manner is very effective. Egos can't stand being ignored. Hence my ego-theory has gained strength over the years.
Even when they gang up on me with "disagrees," they are not enough to override the "agrees" I get, and when they do, it is for a minor term that was "meh" to begin with.
One of them got so angry at my dismissal that he tried to harass me directly, through email. He seemed to be offended that a Latino would dare to presume translating into English. (But that is speculation also.) Again, I just quoted the Kudoz Rulez to him and eventually he went away. That was over 10 years ago. But I considered the attack serious enough to keep those emails. I still have them, in fact. Just in case. You never know with these types.
I have my way of dealing with them but I do agree that a professional forum like ours should not tolerate this kind of hostility. We are all here trying to do serious work and having to swat at these immature egos is a distraction, if nothing else.
I notice that almost everyone that agrees with this discussion translates the same language pairs that I do. So this may be a problem only in the Spanish to English or English to Spanish Kudoz forums, but I wouldn't doubt that the same phenomenon occurs in other language pairs, perhaps with other "egos" and to a lesser or greater degree than it does in our sections.
I'm sorry to hear that others have been harassed by them. But I'm not surprised.
I hope this discussion will motivate a positive change.
[Edited at 2023-02-25 23:00 GMT]
[Edited at 2023-02-25 23:02 GMT]
I've had the same experience when I was actively participating in KudoZ on the English monolingual questions.
There were several people who were not in favor of non-native speakers contributing answers; they would never give an "Agree" but dying to give "Disagree"s. But among those, there were at least three people I know who disliked non-native English speakers answering KudoZ questions simply due to the reason that the KudoZ Glossary would be messed up. How silly, and I believe this is simply racism.
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