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Fate of HTLAL | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5011 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes  Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 73 of 178 23 July 2015 at 11:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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Finally I caught up with the torrent after a short holiday.
First of all, thanks to everyone who keeps both sites running. Thanks to rdearman, thanks to our administrator, thanks to emk and moderators and everyone. This site means a lot to me. I might seem a bit conservative for my age but the only thing I require from forum software is stability, reliability. I don't care that much about fancy tools and modern look, even though I don't say I wouldn't like some new tools. If the old site was reliable, I would have been a happy girl with no doubts. However, htlal is htlal because of two things that are not that easy to transfer. Community, that has been sticking together despite software and has been keeping discussions about our shared passion on a level rarely seen on the internet, and the archive of so many threads with information. Yes, the search is horrible (even better than the inbuilt g-search is using the actual google page with function to search in the forum, which I find a bit sad). Both are harder to transfer. I don't want a new site where all the old threads will basically need to be recreated. It feels like destroying a huge part of this community's history. I don't like the idea of splitting the community because I already follow too many websites and it does make a difference to me whether I am active on one or two language forums. I am member of several others but I am simply not too active there as my free time is limited (and preferably spent on actual learning). I am willing to contribute to the expenses on keeping up either one or both sites. I had mentioned a few times a wild idea of a more adjustable donation way because I am a student and a fix price 40 dollars per year for a forum is simply not acceptable for me. But I can have one or two beers (or chocolate bars) less every now and then and send the money instead. In general, I think a community run resource like this is much more suitable for smaller donations from anyone from the userbase than for expensive "pro" memberships and such solutions. My "dream" solution: -keep this forum up as an archive but lock it up, no new threads and posts, un-missable "post on the new site .org" message. This way we could always use it as a great reference because, as I see it, there is no point in explaining and repeating some things over and over, and even the wikia cannot sufficiently saturate this need, especially when it comes to our logs and basically the history of many individual learners. It's not just about back up of my log, I've found old logs by others extremely useful many times already. Losing those would be a serious blow, in my opinion. -let's all move to the new forum and be grateful some people among us know much more about software than I do. Let's enjoy the stability, the new functions (but please, don't make it too facebookish) and so on. Many htlalers are fed up with the old software and splitting the community is inevitable, if the more conservative part of us stays here (no matter how much would I like to stay). And newbies are more likely to join the new site, I'd guess. 15 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| aokoye Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5543 days ago 235 posts - 453 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Dutch, Norwegian, Japanese | Message 74 of 178 24 July 2015 at 3:44am | IP Logged | ||
I agree with this in principle but for me I think it would be useful for the usage of the money to be really transparent. I realize that a such transparency isn't usual and it isn't something that I would call for on very many websites, but given the history of this site I think it makes sense. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Juаn Senior Member Colombia Joined 5347 days ago 727 posts - 1830 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 75 of 178 24 July 2015 at 4:22am | IP Logged | ||
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There comes a point where you must say, enough is enough.
We are grateful to the Administrator for having created and nurtured a forum from which we have drawn so much, however it has been terribly neglected for several years now, and it is time for him to either take charge again or turn it over to someone who will. The infrastructure is falling to pieces, ever fewer new member sign up, old ones continuously drop out, and every day the forum resembles more an abandoned ruin. If the Administrator no longer wishes to take active part in the maintaining and improving of the forum, he must appoint someone forthwith with the authority and ability to do so. I know we have here several individuals with the knowledge and inclination to assume the task. But if all we continue to encounter is silence, then it is time to move on for good - and the sooner the better! 21 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4641 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 76 of 178 27 July 2015 at 3:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't know if I should consider myself lucky, but both this year and last year I was on holiday and without regular internet access when the forum breakdowns happened, so I did not really notice it, and therefore I'm coming late to this discussion.
I have been more or less active on this forum since I signed up more than three years ago, and HTLAL has become an important part of my life. I even feel that I have made some "virtual" friends here (I still haven't met any of you in person). I therefore fully agree with those who want to find a durable solution which can suit everyone, or as many of us as possible, for the forum to continue, be it here or on another platform. I have signed up on the .org site only today (by the way, thanks to rdearman for taking this initiative and the job that goes with it), and I have noticed that there is already a lot of activity on there. I can see why that could be a viable alternative, but for the moment I do not want to abandon the official HTLAL - I will at least take emk's advice and wait to see if he and other moderators can establish a dialogue with the administrator and come to a conclusion - then I will give my view on the options on the table. Hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later, I can fully understand that patience is running out for many, and the decline in new members and posts are indeed ominous signs. In the meantime, I will continue to come here, while at the same time explore the non-official site to see how it works. Personally I do prefer to stick to one forum - after all my time is limited and I want to spend some of it with my languages, not only talking about them on multiple forums. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5264 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 77 of 178 27 July 2015 at 4:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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Good to see you back, Ogrim. Edited by iguanamon on 27 July 2015 at 4:54pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jondesousa Tetraglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/Zgg3nRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6266 days ago 227 posts - 297 votes Speaks: English*, Portuguese, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Mandarin, Spanish | Message 78 of 178 27 July 2015 at 6:54pm | IP Logged | ||
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I haven't posted much in recent memory due to how slow and frustrating it is to use
the forum software. My guess is that this is a significant reason for many others not posting which only contributes to the slow decline of this wonderful community. I along with many others, I'm sure, would gladly contribute more and more frequently and we would also likely see an increase in membership if we could resolve these issues. I have peeked in with interest in the alternate site (rdearman, beautiful work there) but haven't yet signed up since I would like to see where things go. I am absolutely grateful for FX's setup of this site and remember fondly his kind and detailed posts when I first signed up here but I think that it may be time to move on to a new site where the software is better maintained. I think it is key to contact all of the major posters here who are still active to ensure that they would agree to move to the new space once we hear back from FX (hopefully in the positive to archive and lock this site) so that we do not lose the most important asset of the forum. Remember, the forum is nothing if the contributions are not engaging and insightful! I look forward to a positive future for this wonderful community!! 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6063 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 79 of 178 28 July 2015 at 1:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've been waiting a few days to post this:
1. Although I have the feeling that he'll never read this, I'd like to thank the Administrator for having set up this site. The reasons are the usual ones. Nothing new, but I had to write it. 2. I agree with the posts above that the current situation is not sustainable. Right now, I also feel that there's no will to change this situation, which is a pity. 3. I haven't yet posted in the "emergency" forum, but it seems it's already taken a chunk of HTLAL's most active members. Judging by the posts, some seem determined not to come back. Others seem to have taken their energy, which amounts more or less to the same. To use an expression I've seen here, people are actively "voting with their feet". 4. One note to our moderators (the visible face is emk, but I'm sure there are others), who have been very patient in addressing this whole situation. Whether here or in a new location, I'm happy to be able to count on you. 5. One final note: for better or for worse, I'm under the impression that this will be solved shortly. I hope so, too. Edited by Luso on 28 July 2015 at 1:59pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5534 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 80 of 178 28 July 2015 at 2:07pm | IP Logged | ||
We are definitely concerned for the community's future. Signups and posts have been declining steadily for several years now, and if the current trends continue, I fear that things will be pretty lonely in a few more years. As far as I can tell, this is in neither the administrator's interest, nor that of the community. Things are still up in the air because we think that the administrator has a very important voice in this discussion, and we owe him that opportunity. On the plus side, I do think that it's possible for this community to remain strong, and even to reverse the decline we've seen. One of the neatest discoveries of the last week is that we have some really amazing lurkers, with great experiences to contribute, who've either been unable to sign up, or unwilling to brave the old forum software. We do not want to drag this process out indefinitely, and we would love to find a solution that makes everybody happy, including the people who built this community, and the people who keep it humming every day. :-) It's just going to take a bit longer, one way or another. 6 persons have voted this message useful |
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