Well I'm another banned former member of HTLAL. Really it was kind of 'death by moderator' since I had already apologized for being uncivil and then did it again saying I couldn't help myself when I really could (trolling a typical newb asking questions without searching/googling first). I had gotten frustrated with a couple prolific regular posters in discussions about issues I care a lot about but whose posts are often indistinguishable from those of an advanced troll, although I don't believe that is actually their intention. So I took it out on newbs instead not caring if it got me banned. Another frustration was the 'protection' afforded to youtube polyglots and Benny, where they or their fanboys get to constantly post ridiculous assertions and low-bar definitions of fluency without others being able to challenge them (again). Anyway I'm not here to bash HTLAL which I read every day and from which I have benefited a great deal. It is what it is regardless of whether the lack of interest of the owner or its heavy-handed moderation policy is ideal or not. While I am not especially invested in its future, I am in its past, as in the vast amount of great and helpful information amid the dreck. Re myself personally, I am in my 50s and have always been interested in foreign languages, albeit without learning any one properly. I studied Spanish, French and Russian in high school (year each), and Mandarin in college (3 years). After that I collected over the years an impressive collection of mostly old school language learning material in a variety of languages and just piddled around with same from time to time. In the last couple years I started to seriously study Spanish, and in the past year German, leaving Spanish aside for the time being. With the help of various language programs and especially Anki (I am an Anki whore), I have gotten up to a pretty good level of proficiency passively (listening/reading), which I would estimate at mid-B2 by the CEFR scale, or intermediate by a proper scale. I am continuing to intensively learn vocabulary and am making a thorough review of grammar, while not being so much concerned with fluency in speaking and writing, which I believe will come easily if needed after reaching a higher level in the passive skills. I am going to start to study Spanish again (probably low B1 now) along with German. I am grateful for this forum not just as an alternative or backup to HTLAL, but for the opportunity it affords for serious discussion of language learning by the self-learner. And well, I'll do my best to behave.
Thanks Cainntear. I miss you on the other forum and read your blog fairly regularly and have commented there anonymously (since I am not inclined to have a blog or social media identity merely to comment on various blogs).
As I said, there is a lot that is good about HTLAL, though primarily in the older threads, and I didn't come here to bash them. My only purpose above was to give a little background. Hopefully we can try to frame suggestions for this forum in a positive manner without constantly invoking a negative counter-example elsewhere. N.B.: This post was in reply to another post that apparently no longer exists.
