Thread: 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 . 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.