I am a happy customer of LinkedIn and utilize the service a lot in my line of work. To me, it’s the professional version of social networking, and it is a company that brings a lot of value to its customers and respects them.
I was therefore disappointed when LinkedIn tried to join a recent trend in the market and asked for a “free-sourcing” translation service. An article on NYTimes titled Translators Wanted at LinkedIn. The Pay? $0 an Hour describes the justified fury among translators for LinkedIn’s offer to join its “crowdsourcing” efforts.
LinkedIn seems to embrace only parts of the web culture: Ask for free work on one hand but keep its API close to developers. It is kind of ironic to have someone translate for free a service he will not be able to access once he’s done.
Being translators at the EP, originally uploaded by European Parliament.
I have been some Spanish interpreting work, got Linked In’s survey, and was surprised by it. My response was pretty much an incredulous “You’re seriously asking for volunteers to do this work for you? ” Now I have closure on the topic. Thanks.