A Question for European Users here

[Red]

Hello,

I received an email a while ago from a user here who suggested that this forum be broken up into regional subforums for easier use. For example a Scandenavian forum, a Dutch forum, a German forum, etc.

Does this sound like something you might want? If so, how would you like to see it organized?

Please let me know what will work best for you. :D

Thanks

Red

[BritAngie]

into more forums the thing is how many as there are alot of European countries.. :rollin: Also a question..If those forums were conducted in a foreign language... would you be able to moderate them okay?:confused:

[Red]

Well no, unless it's in Russian I'm sorta frelled. We do have German and French speaking staff members - and WD Section has a number of Dutch members if there's a problem - but I think we're going to have to rely on the forum users to alert us to a problem.

I don't have a problem with people conducting disucssions in their native languages, in fact I encourage it - that's what community is all about. I can pick out about 1 word in 10, but still, I get the gist. :lol

Anyway, whatever I can do to make this a more welcoming message board for the largest number of people.

[godcha]

At the moment all Dutchies are posting in the "dutch scapers??" thread in Dutch. Nobody is making any new topics and I think that creating a few local communities, based f.e. on language, will encourage people to create more topics, to be more active. Maybe also alot of people are not comfortable with writing in english and therefore solely check "Known Space" and would find it more appealing by posting/reading in their 'own' local section.

In general I also think it would make the "Known Space" section a bit more tidier. I for one would like to see such subforums.

[Roland]

NO! Scapers are to be UNITED not seperated! There are plenty of other forums out there of more regional charcter! The threads that already exist is fine. Today I found a new FMD member from Sweden after he posted at the Swedish scapers thread. That's the good thing with the thread. You can find your countrymen, but I don't feel there is a need for a local forum.

FMD is global, not regional! :)

[Audaces]

I agree with Godcha. I am one of those people who are not comfortable with writing in English, but I still like to talk about Farscape, preferably in my own language. I don't think that talking about Farscape in your own language seperates Scapers, it's just easier for people like me.

So yes, I think that regional subforums are a good idea.

[Red]

Roland, I understand your point but the idea wasn't to divide scapers, but to help regional scapers find others in their area and in the European forums in particular, to help them talk about Farscape more easily. We want to try to make this a place for everybody to be comfortable and encourage new users to post here and talk about Farscape. Your English is excellent, Roland, you can easily talk to most of the users in the main forums about anything. That's not the case for everybody. I just want to give all the users a comfortable forum to talk about Farscape - whether its in English or in Dutch or Swedish or any other language.

Thank you all for your suggestions here. :)
Anybody else?

[Egg]

Hi Red ( my usual sarcasm mode is off)
I'm all for any forum that promotes FS, but given it/they will be in a language that you may not understand, it does leave you wide open.
You can ask people, like as an example, Roland to Mod them but, 24 hours a day? Every site? You already know how big the task is!
Perhaps we could ask that non english speaking fans overseas create their own sites and affilliate, which in truth, would give them this site, and their own home grown forum too. We all could visit as well, but at least it would save any legal stuff, and isolate you from something that you couldn't control, whilst keeping the point of it all.
I'm lucky that FMD is easily available to me, and I understand the frustration of the language barrier!
My two penneth worth!
Regards

[Roland]

Originally posted by Egg
Hi Red ( my usual sarcasm mode is off)
I'm all for any forum that promotes FS, but given it/they will be in a language that you may not understand, it does leave you wide open.
You can ask people, like as an example, Roland to Mod them but, 24 hours a day? Every site? You already know how big the task is!
Perhaps we could ask that non english speaking fans overseas create their own sites and affilliate, which in truth, would give them this site, and their own home grown forum too. We all could visit as well, but at least it would save any legal stuff, and isolate you from something that you couldn't control, whilst keeping the point of it all.
I'm lucky that FMD is easily available to me, and I understand the frustration of the language barrier!
My two penneth worth!
Regards

That is a good idea Egg! Set up links to other message boards as partner boards. mayby give them the right to have the FMD logo at their board.

Personally I would not have the time to mod a local forum since I already have a forum in english to mod. And the farscape spin-off project to administrate. And then there is the bass playing thing...

:rockband:

[godcha]

Originally posted by Egg
I'm all for any forum that promotes FS, but given it/they will be in a language that you may not understand, it does leave you wide open.
BritAngie said the same but I do not understand this since the Dutch thread with 133 replies & 1112 views is already fully in Dutch from reply #10. The Swedish thread with 38 replies & 558 views is I guess in Swedish from post #2. So people are already posting for a long time in a language that most FMD members cannot understand...

What is the point in having a "Known Space" subforum if one cannot post in our own language? Isn't that one of the reasons to have such a section at all, I ask you? Localize "Known Space" a little bit more does not change the thought behind it, it will just make it for some people a place within FMD to be more active in, hopefully. The Europe section is not active at all, at least not since I joined FMD; to find one new post per day seems a lot to me.

Having Europe in one forum prevented me from creating new topics in Dutch, cos I feel that it's not appropriate to have Dutch topics in the Europe section. If people with another language would do the same, f.e. Swedish - German - English, then the Europe section would be one big mess with a lot of topics in different languages. I have been "talking" to Dutch people in the big Dutch thread about alot of things, also FS Off Topic, and it would just have been nicer to have created a few other (Dutch) topics making the interaction nicer & better viewable, especially if it was in a forum what solely contained Dutch topics.

Isn't it one of the goals to have more FMD (active) members? Doesn't FMD want to grow? Farscape isn't just for English speaking people, it's global as Roland said and having more localized subforums does not divide Scapers, no it will united Scapers, it will attract hopefully more non English speaking members and hopefully will make current lurking members more active.

There's no need to immediately create subforums for all European languages but maybe only for the ones being at the moment most active: Dutch (Holland/Belgium), Swedish (Scandinavia/Nordic), German/Astrian (Germany/Austria) and English (UK/Ireland).

P.s. if wanted and needed then I am willing to try to be a mod for the Dutchies.

[darksaber]

Would it not be better to open a poll?

Like this:

German yes
German no

English yes
English no

and so on with the other languages here on the board.

@godcha
It's sweet to see that I have my owne language
;)

[aeryn_14]

I also vote for a subforum for the more active European languages which in this case the Dutch language.
Because it's always nice to meet people who speak the same but that doesn't mean I'll avoid the threads that are in English.
It also gives the people who aren't that good in English like me;) the opportunity to help the cause and meet fellow scapers.
It won't devide us but makes us stronger.

[Bekka Horror]

well to be honest i dont think we need a english (uk/island) section if your splitting up known space as we can read all the posts in the main forums.

if you dont split it up why dont you encorage people to create topics in there own language, either writing the topic in a different language or having symbols eg (DU) at the end would let you know it was a dutch language thread (this would also healpout anyone who was gonna moderate them)

[Spooklet]

To be honest, I tend to spend most of my time in other areas of this board anyway. I only came here to see if other UK posters were active here. But I suspect, like me, these people mostly post elsewhere on this board rather than stick to a specific UK thread?

[martrootamm]

It would actually be better to use international denominations of countries, such as NL for Holland/Dutch and EE for Estonia, DE for German and so on and so forth.

[BaseLine]

I think it would be a good idea to create subforums for every official EU language. There are 20, but it's possible to narrow it down if that's too much. Here is a link (http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies/lang/languages/lang/europeanlanguages_en.html#Official%20eu) to the language statistics in the EU. The subforums will probably also encourage more international scapers to register and participate in discussions. And the ones who are adept in English can also visit other parts of the board. So in my opinion it's beneficial to the community.

[Prospero]

Well, I think the board could be organised like the Bookcrossing-Forum - http://www.bookcrossing.com/forum. There are subforums for the most used european languages and it works. You can almost post in the other forums in english if you're interested in a special topic.
I don't think that'll divide the Scaper-Community, as it was mentioned, Farscape is global. And perhaps some european lurkers who think they're english isn't good enough for the forum will post.
Bye the way, I think the most scapers are posting in regional forums but for international matters or important thinks they're using FMD - you could reach more people here than in the regional forums. Just a thought.
Ad Astra

[Craistine]

And perhaps some european lurkers who think they're english isn't good enough for the forum will post.

Yep, I agree with Prospero. As far as I'm concerned, I´ve been a lurker for a long time because I felt very uncomfortable with writing in English. Although I have no problems with reading and understanding, writing is another story (let alone I finished school 10 years ago and therefore I have a lack of practice with it - apart from this, English was never one of my best subjects :dunno: ). I know I make a lot of mistakes, in particular with the grammar, but I decided to overcome my inhibitions and I finally registered to this board. I try hard to avoid making mistakes -really- and in many cases I shy away from posting in certain threads because I´m afraid of beeing misunderstood with regard to possibly inaccuracies in my translation. Ok, after reading this I guess you know what I mean ;). I think this is the main problem most of us foreigners have.
Please don´t get me wrong, I don´t want a German subforum as a substitute for the main forum. But sometimes it would be nice to communicate in the own language, without thinking "Frell, how to say this in English?"

BTW, forums in different languages might be useful to improve the own skills in foreign languages. As for myself, I would be pleased with a Dutch subforum since I started learning Dutch and the exercise books are so boring...

Ok, I hope I didn´t make too much mistakes. :)

[Tva]

If you did there hardly noticeable, but as a dyslexic I understand you fealing uncomfortable with writing in English, its my first language but I hate writeing in it, as my grammer and spelling are very bad.
But despite this I do think forums in different languages would be a good Idea, and I wouldn't mind trying to learn at least some of a new language.

[martrootamm]

I am not sure whether learning English from forums is quite the best way... Of course, it's good to know expressions and stuff, but if you're looking for correct spelling and such, read a book or English-language news media articles /of your choosing. If you want good pronunciation, then I suggest listening to BBC World Service. English-language EuroNews is also good in terms of English pronunciation and words not heard in U.S. news outlets.

[BaseLine]

Most people on FMD use correct spelling and grammar (or at least I assume they do ;)). Of course it can't hurt to watch an English channel like the BBC. Also, EuroNews is not only broadcasted in English. There are also French and German versions.

[scrape_medic]

Okay there is alot of european languages out there and if you create sub forums for them all, which would only seem fair, then you could end up with a list a mile long..

So far I have seen member who are

English
Dutch
Danish
Spanish
German
Romanian
French
Bulgarian
Belgium
Norwegian
Swedish
Russian
Polish

and thats just from memory...:(

Mind you, I would love to see more in other languages, it would help with my french..:lol

[martrootamm]

BaseLine: EuroNews is not only broadcasted (— sp?) in English. There are also French and German versions.
... And Spanish and Italian and Portugese and Russian.

[BaseLine]

Nitpicker...;)

[Kalliope]

Okay there is alot of european languages out there and if you create sub forums for them all, which would only seem fair, then you could end up with a list a mile long..

So far I have seen member who are

English
Dutch
Danish
Spanish
German
Romanian
French
Bulgarian
Belgium
Norwegian
Swedish
Russian
Polish

and thats just from memory...:(

Mind you, I would love to see more in other languages, it would help with my french..:lol

If you learn Polish, I recommend our thread, we're talking in Polish and not only about Farscape, also Olympic Games - especially when we have something to celebrate, like today's GOLD in swimming - 200m butterfly women - for Otylia Jedrzejczak :D

I've seen also Italian and Estonian Scapers here... :)

[Craistine]

I am not sure whether learning English from forums is quite the best way... Of course, it's good to know expressions and stuff, but if you're looking for correct spelling and such, read a book or English-language news media articles /of your choosing. If you want good pronunciation, then I suggest listening to BBC World Service. English-language EuroNews is also good in terms of English pronunciation and words not heard in U.S. news outlets.
Sure, I agree with you and I´m still aware of the fact that starting to learn a language from a forum is not the wisest choice. But I´m talking of improving the language skills you´ve acquired for example at school.
Almost all books I´ve read the last years were written in English, in particular the programming literature (German translations are often terrible) but also novels and I watch a lot of BBC and CNN etc. But the point is not only to learn the "correct English" but also understanding slang and idioms which are used in everyday life. As for me, I wasn´t allowed to use slang or abbreviations (of course apart from those in common use like "I´m" or "e.g.") at school. And not to mention the swearing! (Yes, you people do it a lot :D )

Okay there is alot of european languages out there and if you create sub forums for them all, which would only seem fair, then you could end up with a list a mile long..
Yes, I see this problem too, first of all the moderation as mentioned in some posts before. But I think godcha has a point as well:
There's no need to immediately create subforums for all European languages but maybe only for the ones being at the moment most active: Dutch (Holland/Belgium), Swedish (Scandinavia/Nordic), German/Astrian (Germany/Austria) and English (UK/Ireland).
Well, I know there´s still the trouble to moderate the whole stuff :(

[scrape_medic]

I don't think that anyone should feel intimidated to post in another language, I have even tried out my very bad french on one of the other threads.......no one here is going to be critical of it and even when english is the first language there are plenty of mistakes out there.........mainly from me:D

[Craistine]

Thanks scrape_medic, you give me hope. :beergood:

[godcha]

I suggested this to Red about a year ago cos I know from other forums which I daily visit that having local communities will only increase activity and provide people/members a place to post in their own language whether they like and/or are able to post in English or not.

I also thought, and still do, that it's easier and nicer to be able to create topics in a [sub]forum instead of posting in the already huge threads we are having now [f.e. Dutch - Polish].

It's up to the admin/crew to decide whether they want this or not and if yes which languages/countries at this moment would justify it's own local forum, this particularly in light of the expected activity.

Moderation of non English forums should of course be done by a member who is capable of reading/writing in that particular language.

[martrootamm]

BaseLine: Nitpicker...;)
So what... You claimed yourself that...
Most people on FMD use correct spelling and grammar...
— or at least they assume they do :eyebrow:

[BaseLine]

BaseLine: Nitpicker...;)
So what... You claimed yourself that...
Most people on FMD use correct spelling and grammar...
— or at least they assume they do :eyebrow:

Ok...I think we've started off on the wrong foot here... You do know the meaning of smilies right? It was an ironic statement...

[pulsarnebula]

[pulsarnebula]

If you have a basic computer with basic software.
It has a spelling corrector like for instance word from Microsoft.
If you really want to type flawless, type your message inside that program.
Than copy it to the message board.
I’m Dutch and I roam around I don’t care if I make mistakes.
But we don’t need to divide this site any further.
The strength of Save Farscape lies in the fact that we work as one!
And if you still want it for your own nation make one yourself.
I don’t want to offend any body but I think that is the truth.
When I look up this site I check out every part of it.

[BjossiBlack]

Well, I dunno how I feel about splitting this up. I'm almost never in this forum, because, well I don't know anyone here, and plus I think I'm the only "active" icelandic poster on FMD. I think all in all, there are 3 posters from Iceland, but I never see them post. So I'm guessing I'd have to hang out with the Danish or the Swedish Scapers :)

"Og hvad kommer nu ?" I'm not good in Danish, I bearly understand it, and Swedish, well, I know that Volvo came from there...

Laters !!!