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Re: I LOVE THIS FORUM

Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2016 11:51 am
by mercutio
Iversen wrote:There are still people who subscribe to HTLAL, and since a major trolling crisis some years ago the remaining moderators have to run through the applications to activate them. Basically it is like letting people access a dusty old museum rather than an active cultural center, but without an account there you can't even check the list of active topics, let alone do searches within the system so I still regularly do those activitations even though it feels fairly absurd, given the current activity level.

There is already more activity here than at HTLAL, but our level is 'only' comparable to that of HTLAL in its first years. It remains to be seen whether this forum (or any language learning site) ever will reach the frantic visitor numbers of HTLAL at its maximum around 2011-2012. Maybe times have just changed.


I think it would be good if there was a migration to this forum

Maybe a more catchy url would get more people to find this forum and join ?

Re: I LOVE THIS FORUM

Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2016 12:28 pm
by jeff_lindqvist
mercutio wrote:I think it would be good if there was a migration to this forum.


I agree, but only the HTLAL administrator can decide if/when it can happen.

Re: I LOVE THIS FORUM

Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2016 1:01 pm
by Serpent
mercutio wrote:Maybe a more catchy url would get more people to find this forum and join ?
I've already replied to that. The URL is settled. migrating from htlal.org already caused a bit of downtime and probably some broken links*, we have no interest in going through the process again. afaiu the google ranking would have to be earned from scratch too.
*they work now but a further migration would require emk and rdearman (or anyone who's willing to help) to pay for three (!) domains.

See this thread too, this is where we chose the name.

Re: I LOVE THIS FORUM

Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2016 1:04 pm
by mercutio
Serpent wrote:
mercutio wrote:Maybe a more catchy url would get more people to find this forum and join ?
I've already replied to that. The URL is settled. migrating from htlal.org already caused a bit of downtime and probably some broken links*, we have no interest in going through the process again. afaiu the google ranking would have to be earned from scratch too.
*they work now but a further migration would require emk and rdearman (or anyone who's willing to help) to pay for three (!) domains.

See this thread too, this is where we chose the name.



I don't mean migrate the data from htlal

I mean migrate the people

Try to get everyone in one place to this one grows and people can keep sharing more

Re: I LOVE THIS FORUM

Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2016 3:34 pm
by Iversen
I don't believe that we can make a wholesale migration of the data from HTLAL, both for technical reasons and because I doubt that FX will accept it. The problems I see with simply leaving the history behind at HTLAL are 1) that FX may close the site when he discovers how little activity there actually is (and when the existing Pro accounts run out), 2) that effective search within the system is impossible without a Pro account.

My point is that even HTLAL had a period in the beginning where it only had few users and limited activity. But there is no garantee that we can get the fast growth in visitor numbers and 'productivity' here that HTLAL experienced in the following years. If all the users who wrote in HTLAL at its peak around 2011-12 really wanted to find a new home they would probably already be here - but they aren't. Maybe they have had they fill and now they do other things, and then they don't want to get involved with a new project. Or they don't find us because Wikipedia answers their factual questions and this forum only pops up several pages later in Google searches, I don't know, but I think we should get realistic and stop hoping for a mass migration of former HTLALiens. If it were going to happen then it already would have happened.

We have got a good thing going here, and let's just accept that it will have to develop on its own terms.

Re: I LOVE THIS FORUM

Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2016 5:44 pm
by Serpent
mercutio wrote:
Serpent wrote:
mercutio wrote:Maybe a more catchy url would get more people to find this forum and join ?
I've already replied to that. The URL is settled. migrating from htlal.org already caused a bit of downtime and probably some broken links



I don't mean migrate the data from htlal

I mean migrate the people

Try to get everyone in one place to this one grows and people can keep sharing more
I was speaking of migrating from language-learners.org to whatever domain you propose. The original url of this forum was how-to-learn-any-language.org but it was changed last year.

To keep the dialogue open, we have to be careful with how we present this issue on the old forum. I created these wikia pages with the goal of starting a thread called something like "read this before registering" :?

Re: I LOVE THIS FORUM

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2016 1:08 pm
by Carmody
A big thank you to Admins and members for keeping this forum operating at such a high level.

I find it indispensable in my language learning efforts.

Re: I LOVE THIS FORUM

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 9:31 pm
by reineke
mercutio wrote:
Serpent wrote:
mercutio wrote:Maybe a more catchy url would get more people to find this forum and join ?
I've already replied to that. The URL is settled. migrating from htlal.org already caused a bit of downtime and probably some broken links*, we have no interest in going through the process again. afaiu the google ranking would have to be earned from scratch too.
*they work now but a further migration would require emk and rdearman (or anyone who's willing to help) to pay for three (!) domains.

See this thread too, this is where we chose the name.



I don't mean migrate the data from htlal

I mean migrate the people

Try to get everyone in one place to this one grows and people can keep sharing more


We have migrated. We're like that tribe in "Quest for Fire", huddled together in a cold swamp and eagerly awaiting the bald-headed fire tender.

Re: I LOVE THIS FORUM

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2016 11:54 am
by rdearman
reineke wrote: We're like that tribe in "Quest for Fire", huddled together in a cold swamp and eagerly awaiting the bald-headed fire tender.

hummmmm...... :?

Re: I LOVE THIS FORUM

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2016 1:14 pm
by reineke
Awww.... It's what they call him! and there are other candidates for this metaphor. I also see several roles for the moderators: "The Ulam's bald-headed fire tender escapes with the tribe's remaining fire; however, while crossing a marsh, he all but douses the embers, leaving the tribe doomed to die from exposure and starvation. The Ulam elder decides to send three men Naoh (Everett McGill), Amoukar (Ron Perlman) and Gaw (Nameer El-Kadi), on a quest to find fire."