I will shortly be embarking on a much needed holiday to Majorca, to prepare myself for this I decided to delve into the Spanish Forums to polish up my reading skills. I don’t need to do this, the part of Majorca I’m going to speaks fluent English, indeed during my holiday I will pop along to a place called Paguera, which is largely full of German tourists but where I know from previous experience, despite not knowing German at all, the bar staff will be able to speak English too.
When I read the Spanish forums, a cursory glance suggests they are helpful, indeed I see references in some posts to English speaking blogs, such as Del Blog De Strawberry Singh. Now if someone pointed me to a Spanish speaking blog, my limited Spanish would leave me lost.
However what I really wonder is, are these foreign language forums as vicious as the English speaking forums? I see posts in the English speaking forums that make me wince, someone posts for help and they receive abuse. I’m no angel when it comes to forums, indeed some of my past history of forum responses in the old days makes me cringe, but I do wonder if the foreign language forums have their trolls, trouble makers and unhelpful folk or whether they are more supportive.
The language barrier in Second Life can be daunting, but it can also be fun. I can remember once a group of us, some English speaking, some Spanish speaking, were trying to resolve a problem. There were serious language difficulties, but one common language was revealed and this came in the shape and form of an animation, the animation I forget but both English and Spanish speaking folk knew the command to fire the animation and it was rather hilarious as we relieved the frustration of not understanding each other to play this animation and laugh.
Now I’m sure trolls are global, but what I wonder is whether in a forum that is largely English speaking, whether that limitation makes those who do post or provide help in a foreign language area means it is more focussed and less likely to be vicious in the responses, does anyone know?
I am sure you’ll get some opinions. But, whether there is any actual data, I’m not sure.
Well the data would be difficult, I would imagine they are more peaceful because there are less discussions and because a lot of the issues will be help related. The content creation section on the main forum is largely civil, as opposed to the general discussion areas, which can turn into drama fests and troll central.