I love that I don't lose my draft when the browser crashes. And the design is well chosen, easy to read and so on. If we could move the htlal content and community here or the features of polydog to htlal, it would be ideal. But that is utopia. So, the only chance for polydog to survive as a living community is to find some niché we don't cover on htlal or rather cannot cover. I think it is possible. My own log is going through this: Due to the number of info and resources, I'm copying the polydog posts into my regular log to have it on one place.Banna, I should have perhaps asked first, sorry, if you mind, I'll just put a link there But!!! I found a great new purpose for my log at the polydog and I think a few more people may like it: I intend to keep my htlal log for the usual mix of goals, results, opinions, reviews and so on. As you've seen, I have a little trouble being brief. And that's where polydog joins the game. I need a place to put just a "list" of things to accomplish, like the minigoals. So, there will be a log of mine for readers and one for those who would be interested only in the results and the progress. That is my personal niché to fill. What I think could polydog be great for on a bit larger scale: We don't have sub subforums on htlal, it is hard to search for many topics and wikia is an entirely different form. So, we could have the things we need to find more readily here. Like: List of TAC participants with links to their logs on htlal, polydog or anywhere else. The SC rules could be pinned here. And so on. That could be the beginning and who knows where will the polydog evolve from there. I just don't think there is space for a new htlal in the same form and I would hate to see polydog dead and alive only as a backup for htlal's technically weaker moments.
Thanks for your post Cavesa. Polydog is only 3 months old. I had many reasons for creating it, which are spelled out in the mission statement. It wasn't created to replace HTLAL, although I organized it in a similar fashion. But I am happy you guys are here. Niches are good - use the forum as you wish. So even if it's just a place to explain my language learning philosophy, Polydog will survive.
Cavesa, I don't mind at all... I'm actually thinking of doing the opposite of what you describe. I find it so much easier to post here, that I'm thinking of putting goals, reviews, sources, etc. here and just putting a monthly summary of goals attained there. That probably means very few folks will read my log, but honestly I don't think that many people read my log anyway... This forum is so user-friendly, it's hard to resist. I do really like your idea of having polydog be a place for lots of information like you described, since I have a hard time finding things on HTLAL. Cristina had a nice post there, basically saying "more forums=more choices=great!". It doesn't have to be either/or. None of us use just one resource to learn a language, so should be totally fine to participate on multiple forums, right?
Hi all, The main advantage of the Polydog forum is that it's software is faster and it's nice to have a small community. For me it was important to have an "intermezzo home" during the offline period of HTLAL. I still read this forum and I may post here, if I see a topic where I have something valuable to contribute. Kind regards, Fasulye
Well I do like the fact that it is more faster than HTLAL. I can easily access my profile and everything without any delay.
I like the modern look, easier to write a log etc. I also like to be one of the first member here. Just love the pioneer feeling
Yeah I have to agree, especially the modern look. It is not that HTLAL looks bad per se, but here it is, I feel, much more soothing, if that makes any sense.
I like the fact that threads here are allowed to develop organically. Maybe that means an intellectual discussion about language learning or maybe it means veering off into a heated political debate. There were so many threads on HTLAL that closed just as they were starting to get really interesting.
HTLAL has a big speed problem - sometimes it simply can't be used because it hangs whenever you touch a button. In contrast PolyDog reactsalmost before you have looked at that button. Maybe it is the immense size of the databases in HTLAL that suffocate it, maybe the advertisements, and maybe Polydog will become slower when it has amassed as many members and as much information as HTLAL, but so far it feels like getting a new computer instead of a your cherished eight year old museum candidate. There is also some of the pioneer spirit here which HTLAL had in 2006, but now it is like an elderly lady with a bit of rheumatism, and the TAC's almost have drowned the 'free' discussions. It isn't a secret that I have been close to the events that meant that several members here were excluded from HTLAL, but I'm glad to meet those members again, and I see forward to our future discussions.
Love is a strong word, and so far I have not been very active here, but as others have mentioned the speed is great, the layout is nice, and there seems to be a lot of interesting technical features which I will need to explore better. As I see more and more highly respected HTLAL members (and ex-members) joining I might get to fall in love with Polydog just as I did with the other place.
I love that everyone can write on polydog without extreme dictator censorship, deleting and banning. On a different forum, they close threads described as excellent and informative: I'm happy that we can leave the track here and discuss all the things. Mostly, we are not robots. Only the robots stay precisely on their stupid boring track.
I saw that too. Right after being too thin-skinned in general regarding vigorous debate and controversial topics, bad moderation online is most often seen in trying to "guide" conversations according to some moderator's personal preferences. Unless a thread is being derailed early, when it might be appropriate for a moderator to encourage a new thread to be created for a side-discussion, threads just tend to either peter out or drift in new directions after everyone has their say on the main topic. Trying to "guide" discussions is a recipe for driving away users. At the same time, we don't (yet) have near the traffic they do, so we don't have certain problems that only seem to pop up once a critical mass is reached. The more serious content we create here the more others will be drawn to polydog. But we'll also get some folks who would be described as kooks in anyone's book. Even then, conversations won't need to be "guided", though perhaps certain contentious topics might be confined to one thread for each while leaving the majority of threads alone.
I think that Polydog has the potential to become a great language community. I like the ease of use, the speed, and the fact that it's mobile friendly. I think that there are some really smart posters here. I like the fact that I'm here at the beginning, and that I have the opportunity to contribute to "growing" a community. There's something cool about that. I love that the administrator is an active member who is available, present and open to suggestions. Polydog is just missing content and interaction. And that can only come with time. I love HTLAL, because it's full of committed language learners, some of whom have been logging their ideas and experiences for years. My logs keep me on track, the challenges are great motivators, and reading other people's logs can be inspirational. However, HTLAL is painfully slow, times out much too often, and suffers from an absentee landlord. That said, it's hard for Polydog to compete with the sheer size of that language community. I've thought about moving my logs here, but the truth is that I love being a part of the community at HTLAL, and Polydog isn't busy enough yet to provide the same level of inspiration, suggestions and support. I've been thinking about how I can keep parallel logs there and here without repeating myself. I have to say that one thing that I don't like about visiting Polydog is some of the very strong anti-HTLAL sentiment from some posters. I get that HTLAL isn't for everyone, but constant rants about another forum's moderators and members don't do anything positive for this forum. Instead of focusing on what we don't like somewhere else, it seems more productive to focus on making this a great place.
Agreed. Big_Dog's intention was never to make an anti-HTLAL (he still posts there too, as I understand it) and we hardly do ourselves or him any favours by making enemies over there.
How about having well-curated collections of resources for learning particular languages? I'd be willing to help curate a Spanish resource page.
Understand your point of view. I see it more as people saying their piece then moving on, but as people resurface here the matter gets rehashed. In the long run it's water under the bridge and such messages will taper off into obscurity.