The biggest issue you have raised, and a lot of people have mentioned it, is a concern that the discussions forum is being taken over by a small number of people who write at great length and are perceived not to take contradiction lightly. Some have said they no longer feel able to contribute a comment because they fear that one of the “clique”, as some call it, will slap them down.
That is most definitely not what we want and we are taking this issue seriously. We have not made any final decision on how to deal with this but for starters, we will probably introduce a 200-word limit on comments.
So you can see what we are proposing, this is what 200 words looks like.
“The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog’s back so now is the time for all good men and true to come to the aid of the party. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog’s back so now is the time for all good men and true to come to the aid of the party. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog’s back so now is the time for all good men and true to come to the aid of the party. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog’s back so now is the time for all good men and true to come to the aid of the party. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog’s back so now is the time for all good men and true to come to the aid of the party. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog’s back so now is the time for all good men and true to come to the aid of the party. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog’s back once again.”
I’ve written it as a block of text because that’s another complaint we’ve had, that the long blocks of text that are found in some discussions are very off-putting. It looks so much shorter if it’s broken up into paragraphs. And it’s easier to read.
Of course, there will be exceptions. Sometimes a detailed response to a request for information will justifiably go over this limit. So we propose, to start with, to alert people automatically to the fact that their comment is over the 200-word limit and suggest they either trim it or open a separate discussion. The idea would be to write a brief summary of what you want to say with a link to the full comment. But you will be able to ignore the limit, at least for the time being.
Interestingly, there appear to be two radically opposing factions. One wants SFN to be what it started as – a help site providing information to people coming to live in France. The other wants more “stimulating” threads on major issues – politics, religion, current affairs and so on. A couple of people have suggested having two separate sections, one for the requests for help and advice and a second section where more “vigorous” discussions would be allowed or even encouraged and members could choose whether or not to become involved.
Another contributor wants a ban on discussion of all tendentious subjects – religion, nationality, migration, world affairs and politics.
Other ideas that have been put forward:
- One member said it would be nice to have “like”, “dislike” buttons à la Facebook after every comment. But another said the opposite: “Please do not add any buttons. These have the potential for further inflaming or bullying or ego building. It is important to use “words” to express our opinions, so everyone understands why someone “likes/dislikes/feels sad, etc…”
- A suggestion for weekly or monthly features on such subjects as cooking, festivals, fetes, the Tour de France or DIY tips. (There is already a renovation and construction group where DIY reigns. Should this be extended?) Another person asked for more on books, politics, travel and events.
- A plea to change the way the threads are arranged. This is not a new issue but the current site does not allow changes to the way comments are ordered. Is this an issue we should be looking at?
- The SFN Facebook Page: Should there not be a more prominent link to the page within the main site?
- One member said that “even though you say no adverts there are those who, though often not strictly ‘advertising’, seem to plaster the page with their announcements
- Is it a site just for people from the UK, asked one non-UK member who felt it should be clarified whether non-Brits were welcome. The short answer to that is that anyone is welcome. As this member pointed out, non-Brits might have a different view on issues and appreciate France in a different way. This contributor said he/she was shocked by how negative the English view of France could be and said it turned them away from SFN and particularly from contributing to discussions.
- Info about English businesses in France could be extended.
- The interest groups feel like “keep out“ groups.
- There is a lot of unorganised clutter, one member said, and this makes it hard to find important links like Main, Amazon and Useful Links. Pages should be better organised using text size and colour to make it easier to find the most important information.
- Next page, previous page - Could we please put it on the top as well as the bottom of the page?
- The SFN search is really poor. The results are hard to work through and there are no filtering or sort options.
The final three comments are among the reasons we are creating the new site. Are these issues important to you?
You will not be able to comment directly on this post. This is not because we don’t want to hear your views but because we want to keep your comments in one place, the anonymous Suggestion Box http://www.survivefrance.com/forum/topics/anonymous-suggestion-tin. Just click on the big tin and fire away!