[conlang_learners] where do we begin?

[Padraic Brown]

--- On Sun, 8/30/09, Jim Henry <jimhenry1973 at gmail.com> wrote:

> > I suppose we can keep on using this list; but on the
> other hand, there is a
> > risk that "technical" messages (i.e. not related to
> the study of the xlang
> > itself) are getting drowned among the flood of
> messages concerning the
> > learning of the language.
> 
> I suppose in any high-traffic group there's a danger of
> some important
> messages getting overlooked by some members.  But I
> don't quite follow
> what you mean about "technical" messages or why it would be
> a problem
> here but not in another mailing list.

Technical messages would be things regarding how things get done, list problems, technical issues, website or other media problems as opposed to language learning oriented messages.

To answer the OP, this can easily be done by doing what we do on the Conculture list, namely, pick a small number of easy-to-remember tags and religiously apply them to your posts. For example, the group could use a tag called "[TECH]" for all those niggling issues, while regular language learning messages don't need any special tag at all. Typical tags include things like "[ADMIN]" for special list related messages sent from the list owner or queries directed to the list owner; "[OT]" for off topic chat.

When someone wants to post a technical message, they simply type "[TECH]" at the beginning of the subject header and that will a) alert all readers of the group that the mail is not directly related to the language and can be safely ignored if you're not of a technical bent and b) can be filtered by one's email program and c) all replies to it will retain the tag in the subject header so that if a long technical discussion should ensue, uninterested parties won't have to wade through the whole drawn out thing.

It's an excellent system, and for many years we've been using it with considerable success to keep separate "Ill Bethisad" related messages. That way, anyone who reads Conculture and is *not* interested in that conculture project can simply shunt all messages marked "[IB]" to the appropriate trash receptacle. Certainly, it requires some vigilance and some correction of those folks who don't catch on so quick, but that's the system I'd recommend.

> Indeed, at some point we'll want to move discussion in and
> about the
> chosen conlang to another forum or list, creating one on
> conlang.org
> or googlegroups.com if one doesn't already exist.  I'm
> just saying
> it's not the most urgent thing; there are other things we
> can and
> probably should do first, right after the language is
> chosen.

Actually, I'd suggest that the issue of where to discuss the language should be sorted out now. By next summer, a whole new project could be under way, and if the present language is still being discussed here, folks trying to get a new project underway will be competing with those already learning. I think it would be a good idea to use conlang.org (just because of the name!), but Yahoo could work just as well, and groups are easy to set up and manage (spam filtration, you know).

One other consideration, since this is supposed to be an ongoing project, is that of archives. The fewer places a project's archives are stored, the better it is for future research. The Ill Bethisad project I mentioned earlier now spans some 11 years of active work (and going strong) -- and no fewer than perhaps a dozen on-line sources of project-related information, at least two of which is permanently lost to us and a couple others are hard to access and search. As a project of this sort matures and grows, one thing you'll find very handy is an easy way to search for old information. You *don't* want to have to rely on hazy memories of what you thought someone said five years ago! If you create a language-specific group at conlang.org or Yahoo you'll be a step ahead. I would also suggest creating a language-specific wiki, as opposed to using the language learners wiki page (perhaps at Frath) -- discussion can happen in the wiki forum as well, and
 articles and literature can be developped and showcased very nicely. Future iterations of the project will want to use the language learners wiki page for future discussions and elections. For the IB project, we do both wiki and email lists. You could probably also use various IM and other chat platforms, but anything important should be saved in a wiki or mail list discussion for future reference.

Padraic

> Jim Henry