New try-out: international subforums

As you may have noticed, we now have an 'international forums' area.
The idea is that if there is enough interest, we add forums based on geographic location. At this moment, there is only 'greece' since that was decided as a pilot project.

To be honest, we have no real guidelines yet about how and what they should be used for. This is an experiment / work in progress, and we'll just have to see how it turns out.

If you think that whatever country or region you live in deserves its own area, and there is enough conceivable member interest in said area (I am not going to add swaziland and timbuktu just yet), we'll add it to the mix. That said, if the traffic is too low, we might either merge geographical locations later on, or just delete it.

So if you want to add your country or region, drop me or Dave a pm and we'll discuss it internally. It goes without saying that IF you want that forum, we expect you to spend time in it to make it work.

Other than that, we'll evaluate and adjust this setup as we go along.

Very cool idea, I think that it could be fun.

Good and welcomed idea,

However i have a strong belief that Finland isn't among the first countries to get it's own forum :boohoo:. Might take some time yet.

I really like the fact that i can discuss things with members from far & wide. I'd feel a little claustraphobic in a UK, or even European forum. I don't think it's a bad idea, just not sure i can see it's potential.
If you introduced a US one would i be barred by default?!

Curious...is this for general discussion of stuff, or for specific shaving stuff, or...? I can see a point for soem things--language issues, or local politics or things that some might find invasive on the open boards...

I strongly oppose this... we are a global community; please let us refrain from injecting nationalism and political-social boundaries into our midst...

Actually, the idea has nothing to do with nationalism.

It is certainly not the intention to split the community.
However, it could have many uses. For example, some countries have significant limitations when it comes to customs issues, or availability of certain materials. Those things could be discussed there, where they are also easier to find for peopl of the specified nationality.

Or locations of brick and mortar stores, or the best way to contact local suppliers, or whatever.

And then there is still the issue of language. People who are not comfortable speaking or writing English could find help there. It may come as a surprise to you, but we have a lot of members who never post because they simply do not have the knowledge to formulate even a simple post. It is easy to take the English language for granted if it's your mothertongue. It is far from trivial for many others.

So you see, there are many valid reasons for having a section of the forum where people can interact in their mothertongue, or discuss local issues.

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Originally Posted by Bruno

Actually, the idea has nothing to do with nationalism.

It is certainly not the intention to split the community.
However, it could have many uses. For example, some countries have significant limitations when it comes to customs issues, or availability of certain materials. Those things could be discussed there, where they are also easier to find for peopl of the specified nationality.

Or locations of brick and mortar stores, or the best way to contact local suppliers, or whatever.

And then there is still the issue of language. People who are not comfortable speaking or writing English could find help there. It may come as a surprise to you, but we have a lot of members who never post because they simply do not have the knowledge to formulate even a simple post. It is easy to take the English language for granted if it's your mothertongue. It is far from trivial for many others.

So you see, there are many valid reasons for having a section of the forum where people can interact in their mothertongue, or discuss local issues.

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I think all the proposed uses are good; I disagree with the way we are dividing them. Why not a "customs and shipping" forum? Why not a "Non-English" forum? Based on the human race (here's Rousseau again) and our tremendous us-and-them tendencies, I see this as a way the forum could really be fragmented if we bring political divisions of the map in as forum boundaries.

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Originally Posted by BKratchmer

I think all the proposed uses are good; I disagree with the way we are dividing them. Why not a "customs and shipping" forum? Why not a "Non-English" forum? Based on the human race (here's Rousseau again) and our tremendous us-and-them tendencies, I see this as a way the forum could really be fragmented if we bring political divisions of the map in as forum boundaries.

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It seems extreme to call them "boundaries"...I sincerely doubt there will be any kind of membership requirements or anything...It's more of an information center. It might actually be good to say, "oh, I need information on Japan and OH LOOK! There's the Japan forum!"

As it is, this is an American Forum, that other people happen to participate in. Might be nice for those people to have a place they can talk about Footie or something.

Just look at all the Obama threads--don't see any Hatoyama threads, do you? Or Merkel?

To be honest and as far as it goes for a German sub forum
I had to leave some good friends behind when I left there, cause they don't speak english, which I regret
but also left some very bad experiences behind, which I'm happy about and that overweighs by far.
I'm not interested in a german sub forum.

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Originally Posted by JimR

As it is, this is an American Forum, that other people happen to participate in. Might be nice for those people to have a place they can talk about Footie or something.

Just look at all the Obama threads--don't see any Hatoyama threads, do you? Or Merkel?

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I was thinking about this myself, and I recognize the problem. Ah, if only anything were as objective and simple as we'd like it to be. *sigh*
I think if used well, this could be a useful new set of forums. I only fear losing valuable discourse from members who might go to their 'mother tongue' forum and never come back...


Hence, I propose all SRP dialogue take place in Esperanto!

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Originally Posted by JimR

Or Merkel?

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You don't see any about her in German forums, either.:shrug: :p

political discussions or such about religion and other controversal topics are forbidden there

Have to admit, I don't quite see the point, but it is an interesting idea. Flea markets (for example) do differ from place to place, region to region, and what's available similarly differs. This is a thorny one. Well done for addressing it, guys.

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Originally Posted by 0livia

political discussions or such about religion and other controversal topics are forbidden there

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That's a bit sad, but what the hey:beer2:.

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Originally Posted by 0livia

I'm not interested in a german sub forum.

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The closest experience I've had in other wet-shaving forums was the creation and moderation of a Portuguese Social Group, since a significant number of members are either Portuguese or speak Portuguese. This way the group was meant to exchange ideas of local products, local shops, possible get-togethers, etc.
Are there Social Groups here?

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Originally Posted by AlanII

That's a bit sad, but what the hey:beer2:.

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Not if you consider the history of politics in Germany...Or if you've ever seen Mayday in Berlin.

I'd just like to add to the mix that its a double edged sword. With regards to non-English speakers, its a massive blessing and we should do whatever we can to help them. However, the main problem I see is if they get going TOO well, especially in common languages (Spanish, German) lots of important info could be discussed, but only between (and accessible to) say, 200 people vs. the entire SRP community.

My point:
Lets say I ask about say, Z.T. Engels in the German Forum. (I just made this up- that way no hidden meanings). Olivia happens to know something about it and replies. Myself and abcd1234 get very interested, research it, and post our findings. Olivia takes that and tracks it even further. Eventually we find out that ZTE is actually a Pakistani knock off. The discussion ends, and any German speaker now knows ZTE is Pakistani. However, a non-german speaker, upon searching the forums may not know this. Okay, so if they search ZTE it'll show up and they can translate it. But what if they search for wet shaving, and there is a German thread on "nass rasur"? Same topic, very different words...

So while it includes more members, and we should make that effort, there are reasons that common languages were developed- to promote understanding and communication. Imagine how a country would function if not all it's citizens could understand eachother...

The information workflow should work differently, though. If it's important, it goes into the Wiki. Problem solved. If and when i18n of the Wiki should be required, we'll implement that.

Oh yeah. Tags. Nobody uses them. Bit of a shame, really.

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Originally Posted by BeBerlin

The information workflow should work differently, though. If it's important, it goes into the Wiki. Problem solved. If and when i18n of the Wiki should be required, we'll implement that.

Oh yeah. Tags. Nobody uses them. Bit of a shame, really.

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But that is not how people interact. Conversations make them aware of new interesting pieces of information, then they go to wiki/forums/web to search for more data.

I am not aware of anyone who runs regular searches for tags, keywords or regular expressions to learn what is new either on forums or on wiki. People are not machines.

Let's get the bigger picture first:

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Originally Posted by khaos

Lets say I ask about say, Z.T. Engels in the German Forum. (I just made this up- that way no hidden meanings). Olivia happens to know something about it and replies. Myself and abcd1234 get very interested, research it, and post our findings. Olivia takes that and tracks it even further. Eventually we find out that ZTE is actually a Pakistani knock off. The discussion ends, and any German speaker now knows ZTE is Pakistani. However, a non-german speaker, upon searching the forums may not know this. Okay, so if they search ZTE it'll show up and they can translate it. But what if they search for wet shaving, and there is a German thread on "nass rasur"? Same topic, very different words...

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Originally Posted by BeBerlin

The information workflow should work differently, though. If it's important, it goes into the Wiki. Problem solved. If and when i18n of the Wiki should be required, we'll implement that.

Oh yeah. Tags. Nobody uses them. Bit of a shame, really.

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Now you say:

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Originally Posted by sparq

But that is not how people interact. Conversations make them aware of new interesting pieces of information, then they go to wiki/forums/web to search for more data.

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That is correct. But how is it related to what I said? The idea is that a number of motivated users maintain a knowledge database (we call it "the Wiki", but that's what it really is). The information is gathered mainly from the forums, but also other sources.

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Originally Posted by sparq

I am not aware of anyone who runs regular searches for tags, keywords or regular expressions to learn what is new either on forums or on wiki. People are not machines.

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They are not, but some people use machines. I use the forum's and the Wiki's various RSS feeds for exactly that purpose. Apart from that, at least the Wiki has a search engine which actually works.

Regards,
Robin

I think that this is an excellent idea not only so that non-English speakers can enjoy some of this great forum, but also not everyone uses Ebay.

In Sweden we use an Ebay owned company named Tradera which is essentially Ebay but in Swedish and focuses on Sweden and Scandinavia in particular. And discussing our finds where everyone can pop in and discuss sure works but I'd like to have a dedicated part of the forum to discuss it with people who actually can read and understand the text in the auctions and not only judge by the pictures.

And of course everyone should be able to sneak in to read and post in other "language-zones".:lurk:

MrLastway: We in the Nordic countries already have a group for the Scandinavian languages. It is not used much...

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Originally Posted by BKratchmer

I strongly oppose this... we are a global community; please let us refrain from injecting nationalism and political-social boundaries into our midst...

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Originally Posted by BKratchmer

I think all the proposed uses are good; I disagree with the way we are dividing them. Why not a "customs and shipping" forum? Why not a "Non-English" forum? Based on the human race (here's Rousseau again) and our tremendous us-and-them tendencies, I see this as a way the forum could really be fragmented if we bring political divisions of the map in as forum boundaries.

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You obviously haven't been to many forums. I guess it's safe to assume this is the first forum you've ever been to. That said, I should be an *** and assume that if I were having difficulties with honing I can easily call up one of the guys from another state or even post here to ask question, watch videos so I will learn the error of my ways or maybe just maybe...here's a thought if there was a kind gentlemen who lived in my area he may be able to at his convenience physically show me what it is I am doing wrong. Rather than me having to go through process of recording myself honing and hosting it on youtube so the general masses here can assess the situation at hand. Not many people have access to camcorders you know.

You've been here long enough to know that everyone is here to help and offer wealth of knowledge. By creating these subforums, people will actually be able to help those around them getting into SR shaving or what have you. Oh wait, it's too dangerous to meet people online. That's why there's a notion called "rapport."

If you choose to stay in your little box by all means do so. No one ever said anything about "nationalism and political-social boundaries."

BTW I'm just assuming here, ( and to assume is to make an - well you already know that ) when you acquired your driver's license did you learn how to drive by reading and watching videos online versus someone physically teaching you?

Godspeed mate

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Originally Posted by JimR

Not if you consider the history of politics in Germany...Or if you've ever seen Mayday in Berlin.

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Sorry for replying so late but surely that should read, especially, 'if you consider the history of politics in Germany'. I meant sad as in, a pity. Never seen Mayday in Berlin. I'll look out for it. Not trying to have an argument here, honest. Apologies for any misunderstandings for which, I take full responsibility.

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Originally Posted by Otto

MrLastway: We in the Nordic countries already have a group for the Scandinavian languages. It is not used much...

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Well since even I hadn't found that group and/or the threads in it shows my point that a group is a bit too excluded from the rest of the forum in a way that a sub-forum isn't.

Could the merciful moderators create a Finnish subforum?
I have starting to talk about it much earlier and I hope it serves well for those who wants to talk with our native language.
I could host it and help people to find more information.
I don't know how much people is going to use it but we'll see that and if it turns out to be unnecessary it can delete later.