New profile feature: the NO-NO-list Thread poster: Heinrich Pesch
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Heinrich Pesch 
Finland
Local time: 21:20
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
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Perhaps we should be able to declare in our profiles what kind of subject we don't wish at all to deal with. In my case I would enter biotech-related stuff.
Just yesterday it happened again. Late in the evening a mail arrived and asked for help with a unspecified project of roughly thousand new words. I asked for the files, but an hour later no response had come. In the morning I found a link to a dozen files with biotech-related material.
Don't you think agencies should have marke... See more Perhaps we should be able to declare in our profiles what kind of subject we don't wish at all to deal with. In my case I would enter biotech-related stuff.
Just yesterday it happened again. Late in the evening a mail arrived and asked for help with a unspecified project of roughly thousand new words. I asked for the files, but an hour later no response had come. In the morning I found a link to a dozen files with biotech-related material.
Don't you think agencies should have marked in their database what kind of stuff I have declined to handle previously?
Perhaps such a NO-NO feature in our profiles would give customers a way to exclude those freelancers from their mass-mailings. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Could be useful, but risky, too | Jan 12, 2017 |
If I declared the topics I want to have nothing to do with, I would be called intolerant and discriminatory. I think there is a risk in this, because even if an agency visits my profile with a different project in mind, they could be irritated by my "firm" position statement. I suppose that could happen with any other subject.
| | | | Endre Both
Germany
Local time: 20:20
English to German
| Don't respond to enquiries not specifying volume and subject | Jan 12, 2017 |
Heinrich Pesch wrote:
a mail arrived and asked for help with a unspecified project
I have come to the simple conclusion that it is best to steer clear of agencies whose project managers are clueless (or careless) enough to think that the subject field is an optional piece of information.
| | | | | The client's problem | Jan 12, 2017 |
I am not sure it would help much. Indeed, the list of areas and subjects I don't mess with would be off-puttingly long! I am afraid search engines would find them and actually direct clients to me with those jobs. 
We do - or at least can - go to some lengths to show what areas we DO specialise and work in, so if clients take the trouble to read your profile, they should be able to work out what areas you are NOT... See more I am not sure it would help much. Indeed, the list of areas and subjects I don't mess with would be off-puttingly long! I am afraid search engines would find them and actually direct clients to me with those jobs.
We do - or at least can - go to some lengths to show what areas we DO specialise and work in, so if clients take the trouble to read your profile, they should be able to work out what areas you are NOT interested in.
I get mails from clients who can't read Danish and have very little idea what the text is about. 'I think it's quite an easy, general text', is a line some PMs use. There is simply no way of knowing without seeing the files. However, clients with more initiative can find out what a text is about if they try!
I don't lose sleep over the problem, and it does not take many seconds to send a polite mail to turn the offer down. ▲ Collapse
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Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
Local time: 12:20
Dutch to English
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| Automatic email reply | Jan 13, 2017 |
Recently, in an effort to reduce my workload, I have stopped translating personal documents. It took me some time to figure out how best to go about this: I have deleted all mention of personal documents on any translation profiles and I have put an automatic reply message on my business email address. I have added a referral to a colleague who is willing to accept that type of work and a suggestion for a Google search in case my colleague is not available. That way I don't leave people without ... See more Recently, in an effort to reduce my workload, I have stopped translating personal documents. It took me some time to figure out how best to go about this: I have deleted all mention of personal documents on any translation profiles and I have put an automatic reply message on my business email address. I have added a referral to a colleague who is willing to accept that type of work and a suggestion for a Google search in case my colleague is not available. That way I don't leave people without other resources. Since I can still see the original request emails, I can respond if there are any misunderstandings about my message but otherwise I don't respond. ▲ Collapse
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I support your idea. I just made a similar suggestion in this forum, but for KudoZ questions. I'm tired of law-related questions cluttering my dashboard, a topic I'm not qualified to help with. However, as Christine stated, it would have to be programmed in such a way as to tell Google bots they are NOT to index these terms, if at all possible.
[Edited at 2017-08-27 17:55 GMT]
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