Dear Nanna,

I wish you get well soon and I hope you have not have had to go through something life threatning. Recovering from surgeries can take a long time, but you seem like a strong woman and I can only hope for your speedy recovery. I only mean you well, so please believe this!

Do not think that me saying what I did is directed to you personally. My comment was in regards to how time wasting this new thread was according to some here. I do not blame you for being ill and having time to read what ever you want to read. I am glad you can find something to entertain you as I know rather well how boring it is to be ill. I am disabled myself as a matter of fact. When I say entertaining, do not take this the wrong way as it is so not meant to be a mean thing.

I do think you are a "lucky" person for having clients close by and being able to trust them. I have some clients like that myself and I also have work based on words of mouth too. This discussion is really much more about working across borders and purely on internet. I have a grown up son, 23 years old, who has entered this business recently and I can see how lost he is and how easily he gets fooled. He is just one out of so many new translators and then you also have translators who are possibly naive or just want to believe the best in everyone/agency etc. Just because someone might be gullable, does not mean they should be treated badly and not get paid and the same applies to clients.

Like you, I also have routines and the experience. I have only been fooled once and for as little as 90 Euros. Just because I am a "big girl" and can look after myself does not mean that this industry does not need to be properly regulated to protect both parties and worldwide as I think most of us work worldwide and only  or mainly via internet.

This is Nanna, what I want changed so that we can all get up tomorrow morning and know we have a safe job. We get paid for quality work delivered. Client gets quality work from us and pay us for it and as agreed.

Get well soon!

Kind regards

Maria

Dear All,

I hope you are well and that you Nanna is really recovering from your surgery.

I am not writing this to upset anyone. I just think it is in the interest of us all.

I got an e-mail today, which is beyond me and it is from our trusted site on the web here. I have ProZably been to Zenegal as i have driven across Africa. I am in fact a well known desert traveller and I am writing a book about all my travels across Sahara, my travels through Yemens Empty Quarter will be the next.....lol.

Since I started this thread I have been contacted privately from East and West of this world. Apparently a lot of people have been only reading what has been said here and loved what I have been saying. That is for me very nice of course, but when I am asked to join clubs, forums etc to start furore and go against what I have brought up here I do actually get angry. I am not a person who easily get upset. Now I am and more than angry too.

Yes, I do speak my mind as you now all know that I do and I do not care less if that makes me unpopular. Why should that upset me? Because I have a case that I believe in and I never give up on anything that I want. I have never given up on anything in life and getting our rights is something I will not give up either.

My point and which is even a stronger point than before I think, is that one of the most trusted sites have contacted me to of course become a paying member but to convince me they are the once to go for and this actually makes me angry. This is just another trick and treat!  I am asked to join as a paying member because testimonials from current members say; "I have lot more profitable work since I joined "Prozitground" last year and i can pick and choose my jobs. Then; I have been a paying member for about 9 months and during that time I have met more than 10 clients and MOST of them pay USUALLY on time". Honestly, this makes me sick!

If I now would like to build a stronger profile........... Why on earth would I like to build a stronger profile with someone who just want my money and giving a testimonial that over 9 months I have met more than 10 customers???? I can go to a bar in Nottingham and say I have met more than 10 customers who would like to give me translation work. I have a folder on my computer of agencies and private people who I have met on the internet over the years for "serious" work. Yes, I file everything and everyone.

10 customers over 9 months and only someone you have met????? Sorry, but that is utterly pathetic. Why is it so damn hard to be honest and up-front in this business? My son is a game tester and translator and he is rather worried about further jobs in this business. I do not blame him for that. Life is hard and being self-employed is rather hard too.

Having trusted sites contacting members with the kind of bullocks that I have got is worse than putting a non-paying clients' name on here. If I was not around and my son getting the e-mail, the last on and the one in question, he probably would have believed it as he is young and unexperienced. How many others would buy it? I think a lot! This is just another issue in this case and why we need to stick together.

Fooling people makes me angry and I hope you get angry too by this. Let us stop living on prozac, and do something constructive. I vote for AIPTI!

Kind regards

Maria

Maria, the only thing that I understood from your post is that some person contacted you inviting you to become a paid member of some site that you called "trusted" for the purpose of procuring translation work.  In the old days, when Snake Oil was sold, farmers shrugged, turned their backs, went about their business, and turned a profit.  Yes, Viagra, Nigerian scams, promises of quick cash and instant youth exist.  You've alerted us that there is another one.  I think I get one of those monthly.  Delete button: "click" - gone.

Since you are an experienced translator you know that there are no shortcuts.  We build our skill and our clientele over time.  When new clients come along of the agency variety we examine their background, and we arrange the relationship, and we examine the document.  We are never too busy to do so because it would be unprofessional not to.  So a piece of nonsense came into your inbox.  Delete it.  End of story.

I don't quite understand your purpose of relating this last story.  Can you clarify?

Maxi

Hi, Maria,

All I understood from your travelZ is that you are a regular member over zere and have been asked to upgrade your membership. Is that correct?

I am afraid that that's part of a regular frenzy these days. I get every week phone calls from banks (because I always check the option "Do not send me any advertising junk mail" so all they can do, as it turns out, is call me) which push new credit cards and other products "specially tailored" for me. As opposed to Maxi's easy solution of simply binning them, it's more difficult to do over the phone. Last night the woman asked "May I ask why you don't want our credit card?" Because, dear lady, I already have one! Thank you!

Definitely, bin it!

That's the only thing to do. Maxi is right and so are you. I also report it as SCAM: a wonderful feature of my Internet Security System that allows me to report what I consider invasive and annoying e-mails that will henceforth get stuck in my SCAM filter which means that I don't even see them.

Easy!

Nanna

So that whole post only meant that Maria was invited to become a paying member of ProZ?  That could have been said in one sentence rather than that long confusing riddle. 

Maxi

Yes!

The real riddle (for me) is why Maria thought we wanted to know that she has been invited to become a paying member of ProZ.

Nanna

So --- you thought it was possible to lose all your belly fat by eating a a few acai tablets or some such?

Lose 16kg of belly fat in two months… Honestly! It's a scam.

"I signed up for a free trial of acai berry tablets and had to give my bank details to pay for postage…"

Viv3 Labs Complaints

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/viv3-labs-c214469.html?sort=datea&page=1

Who wants to be in trouble with the law? A very sly attempt to get people to worry and thus open a file containing a virus.

Always check the language, which is a dead give-away that something is wrong. This is no exception. Also, check the legal set-up. I am surprised they didn't spell 'copyright' as copy-write..

From: Marcus Law Center

Subject: Complaint filled against you

Message:

March 25, 2010
Marcus Law Center
350 Broadway, Suite 300
New York, NY 10013

To Whom It May Concern:

On the link bellow is a copy of the lawsuit that we filed against you in court on March 15, 2010.

The case number is 3478254. The reason the lawsuit was filed was due to a completely inadequate response from your company for copyright infrigement that our client Danilison Inc is a victim of.
[%link to the virus containing document%]
Danilison Inc has proof of multiple Copyright Law violations that they wish to present in court on April 15th, 2010.

Sincerely,

Marcus Law Center
Marcus Law Center LLP

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With the above mail, you'll be asked to open a file containing a Word document with an embedded PDF file that is actually a binary file. This file is a 'dropper' that will automatically pick up what is termed a RAT (Remote Administration Tool) from another server.