| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4] > | florencia at proz.com advertises Babylon ? (staff: 'Apologies - we screwed up') Thread poster: Ulrike Kraemer
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Erik Freitag 
Germany
Local time: 16:19
Member (2006)
Dutch to German
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I share my colleagues' concerns! Please refrain from unsolicited advertising!
| | | | | Can you get us off their spam list? | Feb 11, 2009 |
writeaway wrote: So this 'advertiser' now has my email address, which they in turn can sell on. That's nice. 
It might be worth looking at http://spamnation.info/go/domain/magnetmail.net
@Drew: can you get MagnetMail to give us a written assurance that it has deleted our e-mail addresses from its database and that we will never hear from them again?
| | | | Erik Freitag
Germany
Local time: 16:19
Member (2006)
Dutch to German
+ ...
| "Bug" in preferences? | Feb 11, 2009 |
Drew MacFadyen wrote: Users may also manage 3rd party email subscriptions under email preferences and other notifications in the users profile. Users can also manage this preference as well at http://www.proz.com/remove
I've checked the relevant settings: I very clearly did NOT check the option "Check this box if you would like to receive special offers and communications from ProZ.com on behalf of select, approved translation industry advertisers", still I received the message. Could staff please look into this?
Regards,
Erik
Edit: typo.
[Bearbeitet am 2009-02-11 14:46 GMT]
| | | | Drew MacFadyen
United States
Local time: 10:19
Spanish to English
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| Advertising from 3rd parties | Feb 11, 2009 |
I should have been more clear. These emails were sent by proz.com on behalf of an advertiser. As indicated in our privacy policy your email is never shared with any advertiser and they were not shared in this instance - Babylon was not given user email address. Email address were not shared or exposed.
We made an error in delivering this message in that some users should not have received - i.e some had indicated a preference to NOT receive 3rd party messages and an error was mad... See more I should have been more clear. These emails were sent by proz.com on behalf of an advertiser. As indicated in our privacy policy your email is never shared with any advertiser and they were not shared in this instance - Babylon was not given user email address. Email address were not shared or exposed.
We made an error in delivering this message in that some users should not have received - i.e some had indicated a preference to NOT receive 3rd party messages and an error was made that delivered messages to thsoe users. We have suspended all 3rd party advertising messages while we address the situation and put systems in place to ensure this error does not occur again.
Thank you ▲ Collapse
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Laurent KRAULAND (X)
France
Local time: 16:19
French to German
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| Low WOT ratings of links | Feb 11, 2009 |
Drew MacFadyen wrote:
We offer advertisers like Babylon many options including the delivery of emails. The text is provided by the client and we do try to assist them in the proper use of English, but this is not always created by native speakers of English.
This message was sent by ProZ.com staff on behalf of an advertiser. The email address should have read "ProZ.com Advertiser" and [email protected] as it has in the past and I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
Thank you.
[/quote]
Thanks for the info, Drew.
You may want to notice that in this e-mail (which my business e-mail server directly sent to the Spam folder), only the link to ProZ is rated as being safe in terms of credibility, commercial reliability etc by WOT - it displays a "green ring".
All the other links have either "orange" or "red rings".
Laurent K.
| | | | Ulrike Kraemer
Germany
Local time: 16:19
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Drew MacFadyen wrote:
Email address were not shared or exposed.
Sorry, but I beg to differ. The e-mails were sent via the MagnetMail server, as you yourself confirmed in your first post, and not via Proz's own mail server. Our e-mail addresses may not be in Babylon's database, but they are definitely in the MagnetMail database, and MagnetMail has been involved in spam incidents before, see http://spamnation.info/go/domain/magnetmail.net
How long, do you think, will it be before we get the first real spam from MagnetMail?
So (again) -- please make sure that my e-mail address is REMOVED from the MagnetMail database immediately as I have never consented to it being passed on in the first place.
[Edited at 2009-02-11 15:42 GMT]
| | | | Marc P (X)
Local time: 16:19
German to English
+ ...
| Help is nigh! | Feb 11, 2009 |
Drew MacFadyen wrote:
The text is provided by the client and we do try to assist them in the proper use of English, but this is not always created by native speakers of English.
I believe that there is now a place on the Internet where professional translators can be found. I can't think of its name right now - perhaps someone can jog my memory...
Marc
| | | | | I wonder ... | Feb 11, 2009 |
Marc P wrote:
I believe that there is now a place on the Internet where professional translators can be found. I can't think of its name right now - perhaps someone can jog my memory...
... were you thinking of Babelfish?
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| Mistranslation | Feb 11, 2009 |
I checked out the Babylon website to see what it was about - dictionary software is not necessarily a bad thing I thought.
Then, on their homepage www.babylon.com, I saw the translation into Dutch of "Welcome" (groeten) - which I found rather amusing but it did not make me want to download the software
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LittleBalu wrote:
Does proz.com really have to resort to such dubious practices just to generate income? I'm furious! Please make sure that my e-mail address is REMOVED from Babylon's database immediately as I have never consented to it being passed on in the first place. If such things continue to happen (see the Facebook incident), I'll have to think about unsubscribing from my proz.com membership, not just from third-party e-mail advertising!
I'm furious too.
proz has made a lot of mistakes since january: used google analytics without informing us, used google ads that don't really always fit to the subject of this website and now uses our addresses for commercial purposes.
I'd like to nominate proz for the Golden Raspberry Awards for the website showing the least respect for its members.
Emmanuelle
(excuse my poor English)
| | | | | Congrats to ProZ | Feb 11, 2009 |
I feel I need to say this: the thing that struck me most about this thread is this:
staff: 'Apologies - we screwed up'
I'm not going to love ProZ any more for this, but nice job at admitting a mistake.
I went to a fancy restaurant yesterday, and the service wasn't even as good as at McDonalds. Every time something was wrong (not getting the item I ordered, getting my main course while I am still eating the entrée which arrived late, etc.), the staff kept blaming someone else for everything. The waitress even went as far as saying "Sorry if you have to wait - that group over there is keeping the cook busy" - the group in question arrived half an hour after us... Never mind that it was her screw-up that I didn't get what I first ordered... Blame it on the other clients!
After the terrible service I had yesterday, ProZ's admitting this mistake feels like a relief.
| | | | | At the risk of being shot down... | Feb 11, 2009 |
I was happy to receive this ad.
Did I opt out of third-party messages or not - hmm, where is that setting? Not sure.
I used to have a bad opinion of Babylon. I can't find the thread now, but there was a discussion about spelling mistakes in their ProZ.com ads... I remember thinking to myself "I would never buy dictionary software from a company that doesn't spellcheck their own ads".
Months later, a fellow Prozian gave me a demo and I was impressed, to my ... See more I was happy to receive this ad.
Did I opt out of third-party messages or not - hmm, where is that setting? Not sure.
I used to have a bad opinion of Babylon. I can't find the thread now, but there was a discussion about spelling mistakes in their ProZ.com ads... I remember thinking to myself "I would never buy dictionary software from a company that doesn't spellcheck their own ads".
Months later, a fellow Prozian gave me a demo and I was impressed, to my great surprise.
Getting Babylon has been on my non-urgent to do list for several months now and today's message seemed like a good opportunity, so I signed up for it. ▲ Collapse
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| The kind of promotions we receive | Feb 12, 2009 |
[Slightly off topic]
Some time ago, myself, as well as several other colleagues here at Proz (and elsewhere, I'm sure) were banned from our legally purchased, life-long Babylon licences, because we were using them on more than one accounts or computers. Babylon haven't so far bothered to answer to any of my complaint emails. I opened a thread here at Proz forums, describing what had happened, and got answers from several colleagues, who had received the same attitude from Babylon as me. ... See more [Slightly off topic]
Some time ago, myself, as well as several other colleagues here at Proz (and elsewhere, I'm sure) were banned from our legally purchased, life-long Babylon licences, because we were using them on more than one accounts or computers. Babylon haven't so far bothered to answer to any of my complaint emails. I opened a thread here at Proz forums, describing what had happened, and got answers from several colleagues, who had received the same attitude from Babylon as me.
However, this thread, already from the third or fourth post, doesn't appear on my home page, despite having tried all visualization options, two different computers and checking the forums list on the home page while logged in or logged out. But maybe that's just me...
Please, check that thread
http://www.proz.com/forum/software_applications/122294-babylon_overused_licenses-page2.html
If someone of Proz staff could explain why this thread is "invisible", they would be welcome. If it's just me that can't see it, I offer my apologies. The thread was last updated fifteen minutes ago.
[Edited at 2009-02-12 09:13 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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[quote]Viktoria Gimbe wrote:
I feel I need to say this: the thing that struck me most about this thread is this:
staff: 'Apologies - we screwed up'
I'm not going to love ProZ any more for this, but nice job at admitting a mistake.
While I agree with you Viktoria in principle, am I the only one who has noticed that it seems to be very fashionable at the moment to admit to "screwing up" ?
Now I am sure we are all disarmed and charmed when someone comes clean but, deep down, I'm a little afraid that such admissions could easily be a neat way of getting out of trouble for people who want to push things deliberately to see how far they can go before they get caught out........ A neat way of back backpedalling....
| | | | Ulrike Kraemer
Germany
Local time: 16:19
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | @Eleni: Please don't hijack this thread ... | Feb 12, 2009 |
I can see your thread, no problem at all, including your latest post (about half an hour ago).
BUT: Please don't hijack this thread for an entirely different purpose. This is about unsolicited advertising by Proz, not about the business practices of Babylon. Thank you.
[Edited at 2009-02-12 09:26 GMT]
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