aokoye Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5540 days ago 235 posts - 453 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Dutch, Norwegian, Japanese
| Message 65 of 178 23 July 2015 at 5:24pm | IP Logged |
patrickwilken wrote:
And this is what pisses me off. We don't need to split. It's being forced on us by pushing a decision
through whether we like it or not. It's the middle of the summer holidays. Some people are just not
online all the time. |
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It's only being pushed on people in that FX didn't look at the likely numerous emails over the weeks
(If registrar is like most) that were sent by the domain registrar saying that the registration was about
to expire. No one is telling or forcing people to go to one website over another, rather an option has
been created and some people have chosen to go to that option.
The only entities that have the power to shut this website down outright are FX and FX's web host.
3 persons have voted this message useful
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AlexTG Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 4637 days ago 178 posts - 354 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Latin, German, Spanish, Japanese
| Message 66 of 178 23 July 2015 at 5:42pm | IP Logged |
It should be noted that how-to-learn-any-language.org is a temporary domain. Its similarity to the main domain was useful for helping people find it
when this site went down (and for all anyone knew, was never going to come back up again). If an agreement can't be made with FX to change things
around here with updated software and greater control given to active administrators, and if it's decided to keep the other
site running anyway, then it's clear that a new name will have to be found for the other site, not only for good manners but simply for the practical reason of
distinguishing the sites on google searches etc.
And the options are not simply "this site with this software" or "the other site with the other software". The other software being set up by EMK and
rdearman can be transferred to this site, with the current software and posts being made read-only. That is absolutely on the table. Really there are so
many options on the table right now, so many options that need to be ruled in or out by FX, that all we can do is express what eventualities we each
would most like to see. Then the mods, in discussions with FX, will be more capable of passing on the feelings in the community.
There's no alternative to a mods-FX discussion as far as I can see. Someone has to represent us, we can't all talk individually to FX, and the mods are
the most trusted members of our community.
Edited by AlexTG on 23 July 2015 at 5:50pm
11 persons have voted this message useful
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James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5374 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French
| Message 67 of 178 23 July 2015 at 5:42pm | IP Logged |
The administrator put in a ton of time, effort and money to create this "community." It exists (and still exists) because every one of us feel what he provides is the best alternative.
It seems odd to me that there is so much complaining about the administrator when we all use his site because we feel nobody else has created a better option.
Apparently this site will continue and there is nothing forcing anyone to use it... or preventing anyone from using (or creating) an alternative site.
1 person has voted this message useful
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samfrances Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4051 days ago 81 posts - 110 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 68 of 178 23 July 2015 at 6:14pm | IP Logged |
The main thing that keeps people here is the other people (i.e. the community), not the website. (That and residual goodwill towards the Administrator). It's a collective action problem, not evidence of how good the website is.
Edited by samfrances on 23 July 2015 at 6:19pm
6 persons have voted this message useful
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SladeWilson Newbie Canada Joined 3455 days ago 17 posts - 26 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, French
| Message 69 of 178 23 July 2015 at 6:18pm | IP Logged |
James29 wrote:
The administrator put in a ton of time, effort and money to create this "community." It exists (and still exists) because every one of us feel what he provides is the best alternative.
It seems odd to me that there is so much complaining about the administrator when we all use his site because we feel nobody else has created a better option.
Apparently this site will continue and there is nothing forcing anyone to use it... or preventing anyone from using (or creating) an alternative site. |
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Best option right now doesn't equate to best possible option. All people considering leaving for .org are looking for is a better user experience, and better security in knowing that the site is going to be around. We can assume that the admin wants the site to be around too based on the domain renewal, but until we know what options we have here there is a reason for .org to exist. We know there's a great community here, and years worth of great content. Who is working at helping this community survive? There's more than one possible answer, but really think about which answer makes the most sense to you.
3 persons have voted this message useful
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James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5374 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French
| Message 70 of 178 23 July 2015 at 6:49pm | IP Logged |
Yes, there are many alternatives. People who complain about this site have the option to go out and create what they believe is the "best possible option." That is a good thing.
Benny left this site and created his own site several years ago. My hat goes off to him. He certainly has better technology, but most people seem to still prefer this site. Personally, I like the .org site that was just created. I think it may make a good alternative. My hat goes off to whoever put in the effort to get that going.
I am a pacifist and just don't like the tone that seems to suggest that we who have chosen to use the administrator's site somehow have a right to force the administrator do certain things he has chosen not to do. He views this as what he can offer as the "best possible option" and I am thankful he had the vision to create this "community."
1 person has voted this message useful
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samfrances Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4051 days ago 81 posts - 110 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 71 of 178 23 July 2015 at 8:38pm | IP Logged |
Good thing no one is proposing violence then! ;-)
1 person has voted this message useful
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kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4888 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish
| Message 72 of 178 23 July 2015 at 9:45pm | IP Logged |
emk wrote:
So here are some of the things I've heard over the last few days:
1. Almost everyone wants to see the community continue to exist and thrive.
2. Quite a few people are willing to live with the current software, and they would be
perfectly happy to remain here.
3. A substantial number of users are frustrated by the situation, and they don't want
to do this all over again in a year.
4. Some people are very concerned by the ongoing decline in HTLAL signups and posting,
and they're worried about the long-term future if things continue as they are.
5. Some people are enthusiastic about what they could do with better forum software:
They could share target-language movie trailers in their logs, or they could browse
the forum easily from their phone, or they could follow threads using an RSS reader.
6. Several people with substantial technical skills and resources have offered to step
up to ensure that the community has a home if it ever needs one.
7. Our administrator wants (as far as I can tell) to keep the forum online, and he has
devoted pretty some serious effort to this in the past.
I'm probably leaving somebody out, and if so, I'd love to hear from them. :-)
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This is a variation on a theme, but I'd like to see any new HTLAL - whether it's an
update of this platform or a new site - be consciously designed. I'm on a
couple forums that use preexisting templates, and they're nice for smaller groups, but
not so good for fostering a larger community.
There might be exceptions, but I haven't stumbled on any.
This might take some fundraising, as there would be a significant time investment
needed to build a new platform or site. And, for me, we'd need ownership of the site
and it's archives first.
4 persons have voted this message useful
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