Roles and guidelines in the localization community

Volunteer communities are the backbone of the localization (l10n) efforts at Mozilla. They are designed to be self-regulating and self-managing with minimal intervention from staff. For example, the responsibility of reviewing suggestions falls on the Translators and Managers within the community; they not only ensure quality and consistency but also keep an eye out for potential new volunteers to promote. And when Managers plan to step down, it’s crucial they develop succession plans to maintain continuity.

The role of staff is to intervene only when necessary. The main reasons for staff to be involved is when self-regulation fails or there are violations of the Community Participation Guidelines (CPG). The goal is to empower the communities to thrive independently while maintaining the high standards that Mozilla is known for.

The localization team can occasionally take a more hands-on approach, proactively engaging with locales that are facing challenges. For example, it can happen when a member (or members) of a locale reaches out directly to localization staff to express concerns about their community. Other times, the team may receive product requests for specific locales, which prompts initiatives to ensure that these communities are capable of supporting the product expansion.

In the following sections, we’ll review the current roles and expectations and suggest guidelines for when role criteria are not met — and how the localization staff can get involved and help in these different scenarios.

Roles: responsibilities and expectations

Managers

Responsibilities

On top of the responsibilities associated with the Translator role:

  • Establish mentorship practices for new localizers that foster growth and lead to impactful participation.
  • Identify and train community mentors in their role.
  • Coordinate translation and l10n testing of projects within the l10n community.
  • Provide input and consultation with localizers, evaluate candidates for advanced roles within the community.
  • Coordinate and facilitate internal community discussions.
  • Create and maintain language resources for the community (e.g., terminology, style guides, etc.).

Expectations

  • Open and frequent communication (liaison between l10n-drivers and l10n community) concerning new projects, new deadlines, and community issues.
  • Create and secure a safe space for people to participate in l10n in an impactful way.
  • Recruit and mentor new localizers.
  • Give timely feedback to community mentors and translators.

Translators

Responsibilities

  • Submit translations for new content.
  • Review pending translation suggestions from contributors and provide them with timely feedback that focuses on developing skills.
  • Testing of all submitted translations in product.
  • Work with Managers to create and maintain language resources for the community.
  • Report issues concerning source language content issues.

Expectations

  • Ensure consistent quality of the project they’re localizing.
  • Give detailed feedback to contributors in a timely manner.
  • Translate new content regularly.
  • Ensure that community style guidelines are being followed in translations that make it to the repositories.
  • Keep pending translation suggestion queue to a low number.
  • Gracefully accept feedback on their translations from other Translators and Managers.

Contributors

Responsibilities

  • Submit translation suggestions to Pontoon projects for the target language.
  • Request and accept feedback from Translators and Managers in the community.
  • In-context review (l10n testing) of translation suggestions that have been approved by Translators and Managers.

Expectations

  • Gracefully accept feedback on their translations from Translators and Managers.
  • Avoid relying exclusively on machine translation, especially when unsure about the source string or the language.
  • Proactively request feedback from Translators and Managers.
  • Network and form relationships with others in the community.

Guidelines

Promotions

Promotions apply to Translators and Contributors. Managers and localization staff can directly promote/demote users to Translator or Manager roles.

Efforts to revive an inactive community

A community is considered inactive when there are no other active Translators or Managers, which can make it difficult for Contributors to participate effectively. If a Contributor has attempted to reach out to the Managers or Translators but has not received a satisfactory response (or any response) within a few weeks, it’s advisable to contact the localization staff for assistance. Each situation is unique, and staff can help investigate further, for example reviewing a localizer’s contribution history across external localization projects outside of Mozilla. The localization team will also reach out to former Managers and Translators for their input. If there is still no response, the localization team will consider promoting active localizers who have expressed interest in taking on an active role.

Community engagement

Localizers who actively participate in community discussions, provide feedback and reviews, mentor new members, and engage in localization events and workshops should be recognized and promoted for their dedication and leadership within the community​. They often transition from direct translation work to more managerial roles, focusing on building and enabling the locale community.

How do you recognize and promote them? Existing locale Managers are typically in charge of updating the permissions on Pontoon. Staff will step in if there are reasons preventing a person from reaching the next role (for example, if there are no active Managers, or if there is gatekeeping).

In the case there is no existing community, a localizer requesting a new locale will be appointed to the Manager role.

High-quality contributions

A localizer who consistently provides high-quality translations that meet the community’s standards should be considered for promotion. This includes accuracy, adherence to style guides, and timely contributions and reviews​. Contribution data on Pontoon can be used to help guide these decisions.

Demotions

Demotions should come as a last resort when a localizer’s actions significantly impact the project’s quality, collaboration, or community. In practice demotions are extremely rare and historically have occurred when a Manager or Translator voluntarily expresses a desire to step back from their roles and expectations.

Here are some examples of reasons for demotion.

A localizer wants to take a step back

As explained, a request for demotion can come from localizers themselves, when they want to delegate certain responsibilities. This is a straightforward scenario, in which a localizer typically will reach out to the manager — or localization staff — to express their desire to step down. Managers have the permissions to do so themselves, but localization staff can also assist.

A localizer is failing to meet role expectations

A localizer might notice that a Manager or Translator is abusing their role, especially in ways that may be considered gatekeeping. After the community has tried to get in touch with the Managers or Translators, but has not received a satisfactory response (or any response) after a few weeks, reaching out to the localization staff is a good first step for the team to help investigate and find solutions, as each situation is unique. Note that the localization team rarely demotes anyone unless it’s a grave situation, but they can help promote or unblock users.

Prolonged inactivity

Typically there isn’t a need to demote a Manager or Translator due to inactivity, unless gatekeeping or retaliation disrupt the work of others.

Community guidelines enforcement

CPG violation

A CPG violation is taken very seriously and will be addressed immediately. The process for reporting a violation is detailed under the “Reporting” section of the CPG.

Gatekeeping

Gatekeeping can show up in different ways in localization communities/localizers:

  • Not reviewing new Contributors’ work, which prevents them from joining and contributing.
  • Self-reviewing their own work and ignoring the work done by others — or constantly rejecting others’ contributions as not good enough to maintain control over the locale.
  • Creating unnecessary barriers to participation, like setting very strict standards without offering guidance or feedback, holding onto knowledge or resources instead of sharing with the community, and resisting changes or improvements suggested by others without explanation.
  • Being inactive for a long period of time, but nonetheless never wanting to give permissions to others actively participating. These actions limit the growth and diversity of the community, making it less welcoming and inclusive.

How does the localization team know someone is gatekeeping? This can happen through direct feedback, or through the localization team’s own investigations.

If a localizer has attempted to reach out to Managers or Translators but has not received a satisfactory response (or any response) within 2 weeks, it’s advisable to contact the localization staff for assistance.

Common issues and references

How can I contact the localization staff?

If you have contacted members of your team and received no responses, have questions about these guidelines or want to suggest improvements, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the localization staff:

  1. You can use email and Matrix to reach out to the entire team.
  2. You can also find the member of staff in charge of each project directly in Pontoon.

I am a Translator and want to become a Manager, what do I do?

Try to get in touch with the current Managers and Translators from your locale, to surface your request (you can find them under the Contributor view in your team page on Pontoon). Check also the Promotions section. You can also reach out to the localization team directly.

No one is reviewing my suggestions, what do I do?

Try to get in touch with the current Managers and Translators from your locale, to surface your request (you can find them under the Contributor view in your team page on Pontoon). You can also reach out to the localization team directly.

I’m a new Contributor and am interested in becoming a Translator for only one project.

Get in touch with the locale Managers first, to ask them to appoint you to only one project. If there is no response within a few weeks, reach out to the localization team.

How can I delete my Pontoon account?

Currently users cannot remove their account directly from Pontoon. Reach out to the localization team.