I’ve already said it on ‘Ask you Russian tutor’ forum, but would like to say it on some common forum also.
LingQ library is awful now. Really awful. People share whatever they want. I think, it’s time to split sharing content into two phases:
any lingqer creates a lesson and share it. But the lesson does not appear on the library until
library moderator approves it.
A library moderator should check several points:
The content does not violate copyrights
Collection and provider description are full
Lesson’s level, type, etc. are correct
Why I think so.
Now in Russian library there is a mess. Some Russians realized that there is no need to create something new, you can just find an audiobook and upload it. They find in Internet copyrighted audiobooks and share!
Second, they do not fill collection and provider description at all! For example a provider for all shared content by pkod is ‘Va$o’, while he shares different audiobooks, read by different actors! Even if audiocompanies that recorded these books allowed pkod to share books on LingQ, information about providers should be filled. And ‘provider’ here is not the person who bring this content to LingQ, but someone, who created it!
Third, as the beginner content is a way more popular than Intemediate II content, they mark these audiobooks as ‘Beginner I’!!!
Excuse me for my rudeness, but they are cheaters!!!
If we neglect such behavior now, the LingQ library will become a scrap. Because providers who create their own content or cares about copyrights will become discouraged…
And the second thing about pkod. A year ago he cheated my student danya. Danya signed up to pkod’s discussion, pkod did not appear, danya sent him messages, but pkod did not answer. And then he sent blank conversation report. That’s all. A very honest tutor. Danya, beeing a tutor of English, had some extra points that’s why did not mind. Just decided that he would not sign up for pkod’s discussion more.
But this raises another problem. Evaluation of tutor work.
Now all of this situation reminds me Russia in 90’s…
I think it is important to deal with these issues separately.
We will soon be featuring content original created by our members separately from third party content.
Most of our providers do ask for permission to use any third party content. When we at LingQ are told of questionable content items we follow up with the provider.
We hope to introduce a grading system for content in the not too distant future and will cull unpopular content.
We will also introduce a grading system for tutors, with the appropriate protection against the occasional not serious malicious evaluation.
Where content has been inappropriately marked as beginner we have contacted the providers and they have either changed it or promised to do so. We will see. In any case the usage is based on the user pressing “I Know All” and if the item is too difficult for the learner, the chances are the learner will not do so, the provider will not earn points for inappropriately graded content.
I think that it is wonderful the way our libraries have grown and we are working on introducing a little more order and making it easier to find things. Please give us a little time.
The “library moderator” concept could be difficult to implement. Unless there are a lot of them, they will soon become the bottleneck.
I think people should get rewarded based on the value they provided measured by how many other learners are using the content. This is done as of today. People who create their own content as well as those sharing third-party content should both be rewarded (provided no copyright violation). Otherwise, there is no incentive to share the content.
While I am not against the idea of library moderators, I agree with Edwin that in certain languages this could be a bottle neck. As it is editors can report problems and make changes as needed. I also think that our proposed changes to the library will help a lot.
I appreciate all the input. We will eventually get it right.
I think people should get rewarded based on the value they provided measured by how many other learners are using the content. This is done as of today. People who create their own content as well as those sharing third-party content should both be rewarded (provided no copyright violation). Otherwise, there is no incentive to share the content.
Edwin, I did not say anything like that. I also share my own content, ‘full’ third-party content (text + audio), third-party content with my transcribing, and third-party text with my audio. But I ask the content owner and always provide information about the author. Even if text and audio are in a public domain, authors should be mentioned.
It is my concern. I’ve not said anything like ‘original content should be paid twice than third-party content’
Why not have some kind of “Report problem to LingQ” button somewhere in the workdesk, which would allow users to quickly report issues they come across ? Then they wouldn’t have to use the forum. Maybe allow them to add a few lines of text to describe the problem.
We could do that but really the forum is a good a place as any other to report issues with the library. And, it’s already built. If you are looking for a more private channel, you can email support.
If you are looking for a more private channel, you can email support.