(There seems to be something wrong with [url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/we-need-a-spanish-language-forum/1561/1 original thread[/url], so I’m starting a new one.)
A few things that have been on my mind recently:
‘technology’ should be renamed ‘science and technology’, or perhaps there could be a science and nature forum seperate from technology? I’m thinking of all those discussions about off-grid living, alternative energy, global warming, beer, frogs, mathematics, ornithology in Taiwan, etc. as opposed to computers and phones. While searching for the earlier thread I noticed that others have said the same in the past.
You might also consider a ‘house and home’ forum for people to talk about remodelling, furniture, maintenance, etc.
The other one was the ‘learning English’ idea. I’m with the crowd that doesn’t want to see the place being mobbed by students keen to practise their English, but it seems that the number of locals lurking is fairly big now and the majority are too shy to jump in. If they’re coming and not ‘diluting the quality’ of the site then I’m not sure that there shouldn’t be a dedicated area for language learners.
Advantages:
- it broadens the appeal of the site, thus attracting more traffic to the advertising section. I presume that the plan eventually is for targetted ads to appear on different forums, eg language schools or tutors in this section.
- there are a lot of helpful people here who would (I guess) be happy to give occasional advice instead of wasting their time with people who don’t listen and aren’t grateful when you tell them the truth
- helping people is not only nice, it’s a good way to build a reputation among potential paying customers, which helps the 'mosuns who need to make more money
- some of our Taiwanese contributors are lovely people who have interesting and/or useful things to say and it’s not necessarily a bad thing to have more local input
- next time someone gets their knickers in a twist about how this is a site for Taiwan-haters the obvious answer is “and look at all the free help and advice we give”
- instead of telling newbies with inadequate language skills to piss off they can be politely redirected to the appropriate forum
- it would be entirely appropriate to tell native-speakers off for their lack of grammar, spelling, etc
Disadvantages:
- It’ll get spammed with LE ads?
- There will be a continuous stream of similar cultural/relationship posts
- It may act as a springboard for more uninformed people with prejudiced opinions to participate in the site
- Toe Save will want to moderate it
- Some idiot teachers will think it’s OK to send their students here to do homework projects etc
- Some people might try to banish Taiwanesers to the learning forum instead of being nice to them
I’m very anti the idea of the whole of forumosa being treated as a learning resource, but in recent months I’ve met an awful lot of Taiwanese people who read occasionally. Most have trouble following the discussions and are unwilling to post, which is probably very wise of them, but if they’re there and reading the site then they represent a market segment that could be better served. As long as it can be done without spoiling the general quality of the site I don’t see the problem.