So I could'nt help wondering: Are we freelancers still stuck in High School? So much drama, back-stabbing and deceiving feedback regarding other translators work, it is due to lack of quality or have our egos blown out of propotions?

I checked the first option. I specify no percentage, though, because I also deal with good quality all the time, in the case of selected colleagues I am working with.

Jacek

Option # 6.  I can't relate to that experience.

In my actual dealings with clients and colleagues with whom I work, this has never happened. 

Maxi

I checked the incredibly sexist (I thought this was the year 2008!) every MAN for HIMSELF. Hey, I'm definitely not a man, but when I see that others are making a concerted attempt to bully, discredit or otherwise abuse me and others, I just think "I'm glad I don't instigate such behavior." I feel good enough about myself as a person, and as a translator (based on the feedback I get from my clients) that I have no need to direct such behaviors towards others in the profession. 

Since I'm not one of the "big shots," and I am not a follower, in the least, I consider myself INDEPENDENT of all of that, but definitely part of the "whisteblower minority" (but I'm acutally starting to get the idea, based on the results of my frozen poll and private correspondence with other users, that this minority is growing in number on this site, at least privately).

There's hope yet!.

The title of this thread pertains to "the translation industry".  I am making a distinction between the virtual community on TC, and my business dealings.  In the translation industry that I have been involved in for several decades, I have never encountered the types of behaviours described in this poll. 

However, I have encountered these behaviours in discussion forums.  These are not just translation forums, but other forums far removed from translation.  My tentative hypothesis is that Internet forums are a new High School, and what we are witnessing does not reflect the industry as much as it does the medium.

Maxi

Try "junior high school," Maxi. I refer to those who have such low self-esteem that they get high off of publicly bullying and discrediting others...

If anything, these types, along with my skills, make me (and others of like mind) smell like rose(s)...

I know for a fact that several clients refuse to work with some of these grandiose, "I'm always right," personalities...So they spend all of their spare time (which is in abundance, it seems) on a rant against creative, independent thinkers like myself on this website. 

Could it be, at best (huh!), that they are really no better than most other translators?

Good news for you who like sociological studies, Maxi:

All those hours their teenagers spend socializing on the Internet are not a bad thing, according to a new study by the MacArthur Foundation. ... “their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, ....” http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/us/20internet.html?_r=1&em

Actually I detest sociological studies, but that's an interesting article, Jacek.     It's about time we stopped underestimating our young people and hanging stereotypes around their necks.

Maxi

An interesting expression, Maxi. Makes me think of "hanging dogs on someone" which in Polish means picking/pulling them to pieces...