rename: The Annex | Strangers' Corner


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Spider Stomper

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Post Thursday, 6th November 2014, 17:50

rename: The Annex | Strangers' Corner

I find the current Tavern's description for postings in other languages to be a bit inadequate ...and even possibly condescending.

I suggest changing:
The Annex | Strangers' Corner: Discussions in languages you might never have heard of!

to something like the following:
The Wanderer's Courtyard (or Patio or Terrace)
{and have 3-4 section for languages from different geographical area's} ie: Europeen languages; Asian Languages; etc
...so that it is easier to find a language that someone is looking for.

Edit: I removed "embodying an Anglo superiority complex" since, even after having apologized (below), it was referred to in another post in a way that I took as patronizing. Go figure!
Last edited by RoGGa on Tuesday, 25th November 2014, 07:59, edited 1 time in total.

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Barkeep

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Post Thursday, 13th November 2014, 02:38

Re: rename: The Annex | Strangers' Corner

Ack, I remember reading this and agreeing with it shortly after it was posted, but then it slipped my mind before I had the time to try to do anything about it. (The fact that my birthday and more than one hard-drinking night transpired between this thread's creation and the present hour might have something to do with that. Possibly.) — Sorry 'bout that.

Anyway, I've messed around a bit and it appears that changing forum names is somehow, unconscionably beyond my enormous Tavern superpowers. So I am going to PM some folks who will know what to do. We'll workshop some new names, though personally, I like and will lobby for The Wanderer's Courtyard. :)

About subdividing in terms of language groups, I am open to the idea, my only misgiving is that (unfortunately) I suspect the Tavern non-Anglophone community is not large enough to support enough divisions for that to make sense, at the present time. (Of course one hopes that will change.) But I'll get some of the other mods' opinions on the matter, and if they think subdivisions along those lines are warranted, then we'll do it.

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RoGGa

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Post Thursday, 13th November 2014, 16:48

Re: rename: The Annex | Strangers' Corner

Your suggestion makes sense, but I don't see why you have to assert that there's some 'superiority complex'. It's kind of insulting.

Barkeep

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Post Thursday, 13th November 2014, 18:56

Re: rename: The Annex | Strangers' Corner

Annex is being used here in a way common in British English (less so on the other side of the Atlantic) to refer to a building adjunct joined to another larger building in order to provide more space; this usage is neutral and (AFAIK) has no derogatory connotations.

Though I am sure it was not intended in this way, I definitely see how "The Stranger's Corner" could come off as if the mods/community here at the Tavern view non-Anglophone folks as outsiders who should keep to their own little area off to the side. This is not the case, so Napkin has changed it to something more inviting; we went with RoGGa's suggestion "The Wanderer's Courtyard." The possibility of subdivisions for particular languages is still open for discussion.

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Sandman25

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Post Thursday, 13th November 2014, 20:40

Re: rename: The Annex | Strangers' Corner

Yeah, it's a better name. Annex means the same thing here in the US, as far as I know.

I'm probably being overly sensitive, especially given that the OPs first language probably isn't English, so it's entirely possible he didn't mean 'Anglo superiority complex' to be as offensive as I took it to be.
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Spider Stomper

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Joined: Thursday, 6th November 2014, 17:19

Location: Canada

Post Thursday, 13th November 2014, 21:38

Re: rename: The Annex | Strangers' Corner

My bad for using an expression that can be easily be taken as an insult. My sincere apologies.

The 1st part of my initial sentence refers to the "description":
RoGGa wrote:I find the current Tavern's description for postings in other languages to be a bit inadiquate

The description I am referring to is:
Discussions in languages you might never have heard of!

I just noticed now that I didn't include a suggestion for changing the "might never have heard of", which I was lamenting about.
Would it be possible to change it to something simple like:
"Discussions in other languages"

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Sandman25

Shoals Surfer

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Joined: Thursday, 1st May 2014, 13:13

Post Thursday, 13th November 2014, 23:58

Re: rename: The Annex | Strangers' Corner

I don't really see how "wanderer" is any better than "stranger," tbh. It's not like people speaking something other than English participate in the forums more transiently than anglophones. I'm not sure what a more suitable term would be.

I agree that the current description for the annex is bad and not hard to fix.
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Spider Stomper

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Joined: Thursday, 6th November 2014, 17:19

Location: Canada

Post Friday, 14th November 2014, 00:37

Re: rename: The Annex | Strangers' Corner

all before wrote:I don't really see how "wanderer" is any better than "stranger," tbh. It's not like people speaking something other than English participate in the forums more transiently than anglophones. I'm not sure what a more suitable term would be.

I agree that the current description for the annex is bad and not hard to fix.

I was thinking that Wanderer might not be the best name, but I feel it is better than Stranger as it has the word: "strange" in it, which is definitely judgemental!

My only suggestion at the moment that seems better than Wanderer is:
The international courtyard

Note: I have just submitted another post proposing "The new crawlers' lounge" to be included within The Annex.
(see: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=14169)
So maybe we could just collect ideas for now of better options to replace: "The Wanderer's Courtyard"
until my latest proposal gets accepted/rejected or modified.
That way we will collectively be able to propose changes that are congruent with other possible upcoming changes.

Vestibule Violator

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Joined: Friday, 21st January 2011, 22:56

Post Monday, 17th November 2014, 12:55

Re: rename: The Annex | Strangers' Corner

This is really silly. If anything the name and description should be kept very simple, so people who don't speak English well can understand it.

I think people who feel insulted by some "anglo superiorist" section name should consider that most forums don't even have a place for discussion in foreign languages.
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Vestibule Violator

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Joined: Thursday, 16th December 2010, 20:52

Post Monday, 19th January 2015, 17:21

Re: rename: The Annex | Strangers' Corner

I think it might have been me that came up with the original description. I think I was sort of imagining it within the game world, pretending other languages were things like Entish - truly, languages some player characters would never have encountered.

In light of the point about English not being people's first language if they are looking for this section, I agree that maybe it should be something really obvious like "Languages other than English" or "International"

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