Suggestion re 'flashcard making'
Qué piensa?
About the application use for making 'flashcard sets'.
What is your opinion on this suggestion?
I suggest that it would only become available as an option once a member reached a certain proficiency, established by the point system. 15K? 20K?
This would not necessaritly alleviate errors all together, but it would certainly reduce them, possibly majorly. With proficiency comes a better understanding of what one personally knows for tackling the making of flashcard sets.
Afterall, this is really for the benefit of 'others' rather than the card maker him/herself isn't it? So then, making it more secure should be sought.
Also, each flashcard maker would bring in 2 other members or teachers of equal or higher fluency/proficiency to 'judge' the content. These would have a way to acknowledge - check mark - the status, or to 'edit' as is done here on the questions section. / This way, any members wanting to use sets that we're not earmarked as safe by two marks would be going it at there own risk.
¿Suena esto realizable? Does this sound feasible? / correct or edit if needed.
11 Answers
In case anyone is interested, here are some suggested guidelines for creating flashcards for use on this site Guidelines to Creation of Flashcard Sets
I'm with MacFadden. One of the main reasons I came here was for the flashcard feature. I make them for my own use, entering words I don't know as I read, watch or listen. If someone else wants to view them, that's great, but there's no guarantee they're right.
And there are mistakes in the flashcards used in the lessons here. It's easy enough to make a typo. I don't use the flashcards as a reference source. They're a practice tool. If I look at someone else's flashcards, I check anything that doesn't sound right. Beginners might not know what doesn't sound right, but going through the exercise of double checking the answers with a dictionary is a good learning tool in itself.
Hi, Nise. Though I see the problem it might address, I don't think this is a good idea. It takes a long time to get 10 or 15 thousand points and, further more, the point system isn't a very good indication of Spanish level. There are plenty of very advanced speakers with fairly few reputation points, and relative beginners with many more points. And it doesn't take a lot of knowledge of Spanish to make many kinds of flashcards. For example simple, one-word vocab lists can be made very accurately with only a good dictionary. I don't think we should keep people from making flashcards, at least for their personal use (they can be set as 'unlisted') just because they might have a mistake or a typo or two. There is no guarantee of accuracy on user-generated flashcards, and I don't think there is much of an expectation of 100% accuracy either (though it might be hoped for) by anyone who's seen a good cross-section of the user-generated flashcards. Most users are prepared for mistakes and don't consider the flashcards arbiters of correct usage; there is a warning to this effect on the flashcard page. Additionally, your suggestion of getting two other users to check each published flashcard set strikes me as cumbersome, and would slow the process down significantly. Though our phrasebook editors work very hard, there are phrases I submitted months ago that haven't been approved yet. I wouldn't want to have to wait to benefit from my own flashcards until two other people got around to going all the way through them.
Perhaps another solution would be to create a seal of approval sort of thing, like a badge that could appear next to certain user-generated flash card sets that indicates that they have been reviewed by an advanced speaker and judged accurate.
This has been a great topic. Flashcards are obviously a source of controversy, My humble opinion is that this is a learning site and the flashcards are a learning tool. Back in the old days my teachers didn't check my index cards that I made up to study for the tests. If I screwed up, it was my problem. If I loaned my index cards to my friends and they believed them without checking them, that was their problem.
I believe there is a perception that the user flashcards are part of the lessons offered by this site, and they're not. They're just a tool for users offered by this site. Again, IMHO. I use the flashcards a lot, and I'd rather not have other people vet them, because they may not be reading the same newspapers, watching the same TV shows, or listening to the same radio broadcasts. Words mean many things in many different situations.
I say don't change a thing!
There are clearly two categories of flashcards: The featured sets and the personal sets.
I would add a little more information outlining the difference. A little more 'warning' that the personal sets are just that.
I would also add more user help for those making personal sets.
Instructions to the maker of a personal set?
So many words (in all languages) can have many meanings so there is a real serious advantage to looking your words up in a dictionary before making the cards. That way, you can choose the meaning that suits what you want to learn. Like give someone a hand could mean applause or could mean assistance ... big difference!
It also will show you if you have the right spelling of the English word, too. Donkey needs an e if you want the translator to find it!
If you use the built in translator and it says the same as you typed, you may have misspelled it.
I just wish we all had more time to correct some of the sets that have been created.
I think the problem with this suggestion is that it confuses both fluency and activity (on this forum) with accuracy and carefulness. If the goal is to learn individual words and short phrases, which is about all the flashcards are good for considering they way that the program handles the overflow that occurs with longer sentences and phrases, I would much prefer to use a flashcard set that was created by a rank beginner who has used a good dictionary to fill out his flashcards and has taken the time to meticulously proofread each entry than to rely on a "reputable" member or native speaker who has rushed through the creation of a set of flashcards without even giving a second thought to going back and checking for any typos which may have occurred.
I can say from personal experience that I have done quite a few user-generated flashcards, and any word that I encounter with which I am unfamiliar, I always look it up in the dictionary to see how the word is used in context before going through the trouble of trying to memorize it. In this way, I generally catch any spelling errors as well as any just downright incorrect words.
For the most part, there are three major types of errors which you will encounter while using user generated flashcards: (1). computer generated errors - that is errors that occurred when the user relied on the computer generated definition to fill in the flashcard for him and it generated an erroneous definition; (2). User generated errors due to sloppiness -- i.e. misspelled words, words missing correct accents or punctuation. Unfortunately, this is by far the most common type of error which you will encounter and being a native speaker of any language does not grant immunity to this ailment; and (3). User generated errors due to poor research -- i.e. words that have nothing to do with the intended meaning (probably the least common type of mistake).
Again, to create a good flashcard set requires that the user be willing to take the time to go back and thoroughly check them for errors. Unfortunately, not everyone is willing to invest that much time into the creation of a set. Of course, there is one way that you could be sure to avoid the errors that others may have produced in creating a flashcard set: you could make your own.
I've been doing a lot of flashcard sets lately. I agree it is so frustrating when I come across some words or phrases that are wrong. But I've realized something: it means I'm learning something already, because I realized it was wrong in the first place! Sometimes a good way to learn something is to know what it isn't. Obviously, you can only know this if you are familiar with the word to begin with. When you begin a set, you can look the words over, and you can click on the word itself and instantly the definition pops up, so there is a simple way to check if they are correct before committing them to memory.
Thanks to all the respondents to this 'question'.
I am somewhat surprised that the response is mostly denting negatively to making alterations on the personal flashcard sets. My surprise 
(more of a "Hmmm" than a shocker) is based on my having seen some discontent expressed on another 'question' that focused on flashcards.
Nevertheless, I hear what you are saying. Also, being fairly new here, I still have much to experience and learn about how things operate, what works and doesn't, and how much work might possibly be involved in making changes such as suggested here. ( I probably still have some helpful discoveries to make along the way - even more useful things atop of all the wonders already found. )
Furthermore, I haven't yet tried to make flashcards. It did seem to me that I should hold back awhile till I had a sounder knowledge base of Spanish, since I hadn't thought of it so much as a personal learning tool; It seemed more of a camaraderie tool whereby members could play a part in enhancing the learning process for others. I didn't realize for instance that the 'dictionary' or other aide tools we're the crux of making these cards. (silly of me.)
I may have a different sense once I go onboard to check out how this works. Not that I am ready to agree that things should stay as is.
I really enjoy this website, and all that I have found in it so far. It is an extremely fine gift (being free!), and I very much appreciate it. So, do realize that this question is not discontent. Just adding my bit to see about improvements, since it appears we are a team. // Thanks again for your responses. 
Afterall, this is really for the benefit of 'others' rather than the card maker him/herself isn't it? So then, making it more secure should be sought.
I don't think that this is the case. It might help to realize that only a small percentage of the people who become members on SpanishDict are active participants on the forum. Many are drawn to this site for the other features that the site offers, i.e. video lessons, dictionary/translation service, and free flashcard program. Taking away or restricting any one of these features would likely have a negative impact on the traffic which SpanishDict enjoys. As this site depends on advertisers to keep its content free to users, a decrease in traffic might also have a potentially detrimental effect.
Regarding the idea of "flashcards by committee," I would just point out that the featured sets and those that are available through the reference section were all at one time reviewed by a group of both proficient and reputable members. However, even this does not guarantee that all flashcards will be free of error. A prime example can be found by looking at this particular "approved" set Birds/Las aves. In this set, for the word "albatross" it lists for the Spanish equivalent "albratros." The correct spelling, however, is "albatros," yet this orthographic error still managed to slip past the committee.
Additionally, in the same flashcard set the term "cuervo" is equated with the English term "crow." Even though the terms raven and crow (cuervo y corneja) are often used interchangeably by people, according to the following descriptions, the correct term to describe a crow would be corneja and the correct term to describe a raven would be cuervo.
Even "committees" are prone to error. The difference between using what someone else has created (error-free or not) and making your own is that if you take the time to make your own flashcards then you will at least also benefit from having had the added experience of doing your own research. This is probably the most important reason to make your own.
As a beginner I have found the flashcards to be a good idea. I don't have enough vocabulary of my own to create ones for others; mainly the flashcard is a tool for me to learn. I know memorization is awful for me. And I know repetition is important. So by using a flashcard set or favorite, I can put the words in there that cause me the most trouble; whether it's memory, punctuation, grammar, just for fun; etc. I can find it more easily, too, by just going into my profile rather than searching for it.
So much for my thoughts!! Here are some thoughts from Wikipedia.
A flashcard or flash card is a set of cards bearing information, as words or numbers, on either or both sides, used in classroom drills or in private study. One writes a question on a card and an answer overleaf. Flashcards can bear vocabulary, historical dates, formulas or any subject matter that can be learned via a question and answer format. Flashcards are widely used as a learning drill to aid memorization by way of spaced repetition.
Perhaps before being able to make a flashcard set viewable by everyone it should have to be approved by a moderator similar to how the phrasebook works. I do find it irritating when I am going through flashcard sets and finding obvious errors. Practicing mistakes is counterproductive and defeats the purpose of having flashcards. Without having some type of system to eliminate or at least minimize errors it makes the flashcard sets almost worthless.
