A language learners’ forum

Cainntear wrote:Participation in a community is about give and take. As Saim pointed out, I was talking about people who use the forums exclusively for asking for helping (i.e. taking) without getting involved in any other activities (giving).

When I read your original post, this was not clear for me. It looked rather as you oppose the number of questions about English and especially not the users who exclusively ask for help. However, I read it quickly in my work, so I might have understood it wrong. Nevertheless, now you are absolutely right.

I do think threads like "Use of Many/Some/Few" present problems, because that person never followed up, and there were 3 pages of debate on the topic. The questions also generally sound like homework assignments that someone needs an answer on. Most of us are probably happy to discuss English usage, but I can see how answering a rotating cast of anonymous peoples' assignments can be frustrating.

I know the mods approve the first handful of posts by a new user. Perhaps the rule could be changed to: no new threads until x number of replies have been made, showing good faith at contributing to overall discussion.

I do think it is reasonable that, being the primary language of the Internet in general and this forum in particular, English-learning should have a home here. Whether that be a new sub-forum, the English Study Group getting stickied, a new bi-weekly sticky thread specifically for guest posts, etc. is up to the community.

A lot of the first posts are new threads, including questions about the FIGS languages and logs. (Many logs begin with "I've been lurking here for some time and registered to start my own log").
Perhaps we need to make an exception for posts that look like homework questions, but definitely not for all threads by new members.

Serpent wrote:A lot of the first posts are new threads, including questions about the FIGS languages and logs. (Many logs begin with "I've been lurking here for some time and registered to start my own log").
Perhaps we need to make an exception for posts that look like homework questions, but definitely not for all threads by new members.

A first post for a log is reasonable. I think a first post for a FIGS question could get the same treatment. I think I recall a few first posts that were like "How can I get to B2 in French in 6 months," a long discussion, and no reply from the original person.

I mean, this is also the nature of internet forums, and some people are put off by an overly arduous joining process. I think the only thing that might be unfortunate is if a very GOOD discussion ends up being nested under a dull thread title.

Cainntear wrote:I’ve noticed an increasing number of posts simply asking for help in English, and a couple of users who seem to exclusively use the site in order to get help with specific problems in English. Is this a direction we can afford to let the site go in? Considering the number of English learners there are out there, we could easily get flooded out...

I think it's something to watch out for, though I think it's more of a potential problem than a current one. There's been a couple posts that have felt like homework questions, but I think a gentle private note from a moderator would be my preferred way of handling them if it becomes too obvious.

The first page of active posts doesn't have one right now. I could see how this could flood the site but it certainly isn't the case currently.
I don't mind answering a few newby questions.

Cainntear wrote:..because I see that there are various people happy to answer these questions. (I'm not, and I've avoided posting in any such threads.)

The last thread you posted in, immediately before starting this thread is a thread from a newbie who is asking English grammar questions!

https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=10104&p=137139#p137139

I'm willing to help the English learners if they need it. Let me know what the mods plan to do.