[Language Reactor Forum] Add "Open Forum" Category

joan_LanguageProcess · July 16, 2023, 2:11pm

TL;DR:

Proposing New Forum Category (putting in the request now b/c I know these things take time to get the LR Team’s attention)
Presented a bunch of ideas and examples on how this might be useful to the LR community
Gave suggestions for possible tags to avoid disorganized chaos with this new category proposal
Invited other LR Users to Like this Post and share their interest/ideas in the comments
Mentioned that I will update/edit this as I can
LR Team & Developers: Just some ideas, but I really think this forum needs an #open-forum category, at the very minimum, since topics can’t be created in the “In English” category anymore (i.e., feel free to “toss out” the tagging idea, if that doesn’t appeal to you. You know LR best).

Request: [Language Reactor Forum] “Open Forum” Category

Continuing the discussion from My Language Reactor Review:

I think this community would benefit from an #Open-Forum (Open Forum) for posts similar to these where users can share their thoughts related to LR and language learning that aren’t specifically a question to put to the community (as in #ask-the-community or #how-to).

This category would be cool for the Forum and critical to keep things tidier and encourage community interaction among members.

Proposed/Working Description for this Category:

Used this Template that I found left in the "About the Bug" Category, lol

(Replace this first paragraph with a brief description of your new category. This guidance will appear in the category selection area, so try to keep it below 200 characters.)

Use the following paragraphs for a longer description or to establish category guidelines or rules:

Why should people use this category? What is it for?

How exactly is this different than the other categories we already have?

What should topics in this category generally contain?

Do we need this category? Can we merge with another category or subcategory?

Shorter (Below 200 Characters) Description for This Category

This is a place where users can talk with each other more openly (and we can talk with users when/where we can chime in on topics).

Longer Description for This Category

Hi. This is a place where users can talk with each other (and we can talk with users when/where we can chime in on topics).

This Category is mostly used for topics that don’t quite fit into the categories we already have available to the LR Community, but feel free to create a topic for anything LR / language learning related that you find doesn’t fit into the categories currently available to LR users:

#ask-the-community

#how-to

#request

#bug

Me and Ognjen try to respond to all posts where we feel that we can contribute something, but we are overworked and have a lot on our minds. It takes us a while sometimes.

Please don’t feel we are neglecting you; we’re likely in some half-alive zombie state most of the time. Or maybe Ognjen got distracted trying to make an AI girlfriend or something.

As an added perk of this particular category, you can use the following tags to personalize your topics further:

#feedback: Reviews, testimonials, likes/praise, frustrations, etc.

#user-guides: Community-created guides on how to do _______ in/using LR

#content: Community opinions on highlighted content using LR/Language Learning specific topics

#feature-tool: Community discussions of current LR features/tools
#other: Any topic that doesn’t fit into the above.

Some Additional Topic Ideas For This Category

Please Click on the [Toggle Icon] to see details like purpose, caveats, examples of what might fall under these topics, and other details!

Reviews

Purpose: Reviews, testimonials, likes/praise, frustrations, etc., related to LR.

Caveats/Details: This differs from rating the LR extension through the Chrome web store (or any other extension store it’s available through) or sharing positive experiences/reviews of LR through Twitter.

This is the feedback the LR Team could look at to improve their products/services across the website, the mobile “app-like” version of LR, and the LR extension. It wouldn’t be limited to one service/tool by LR as an extension store review might.

These would also still follow the community guidelines for this forum; frustrated reviewers would also need to:

Tag Suggestion: #feedback

User-Created Guides to LR

Purpose: Community created guides on How to do _______ in/using LR.

Caveats/Details: I find myself responding to users who have questions about how to do this/that in LR or other similar questions. The LR Help page is outdated (it often becomes so with the continuous updates that the developers churn out, but are unable to update the help page—understandable given the team’s smaller numbers.

Current (July 2023) Ratio of LR Forum Members to LR Team Members

I recently came across this number of current (July 2023) to the number of LR Forum Admins :

6800+ users to 5 admins

That’s a lot.

Often this Forum is one of THE places to go to figure out how LR Works by searching the forum’s topics.

It would be great to include links to user-created topics (guides) when a relevant LR Team topic/update is unavailable, or a topic question warrants it. As I mentioned before, the LR team is swamped with work, and this would help at least get users more updated answers to fill in the gaps between #news updates.

LR doesn’t have a blog, and I’m not recommending they do (especially with limited resources/personnel spread thin enough already), but this would be community-led, and the LR team can contribute in the reply section when they have the time—though it wouldn’t be something we count on given the current intermittent response times.

How this is different from the #how-to Category

This is the template for the #how-to Category when you create a new topic:

I don’t know how to do [ INSERT YOUR ACTION ]

I am sure I checked on all the tabs of the documentation that can be found here : Language Reactor.

Thanks for your help

This category clearly relates to the “problem” stage of an LR user’s journey when they’re currently experiencing a problem and need to reach out to other users for help. This category’s purpose clearly differs from a place where an LR Learner can post how-to guides for other users.

How this would be different than the proposed #feature-tools tag

This would be for more robust “blog-post” like topic posts that users create to help out other users, especially when the help page falls behind.

Note: Because posts are dated, users can decern the latest updates from the latest post and context clues. When in doubt always check the icon in the top right of a post when you see it.

Example Ideas for User-Guide Topics:

[User-Guide: Subtitles vs. CC] Things to Keep in Mind When Learning with Subs/CCs and LR
[User-Guide] Tips to Get Started Using LR Extension: How to Study Using LR Interactive Subs
[User-Guide: Interactive Subs] How to Use the Marking Features (And More) with the LR Extension
[User-Guide: Interactive Subs] How to Personalize Your Settings Through the LR Settings ()
[User-Guide: Saved Items] Adding/Deleting Words/Phrases in LR
[User-Guide: PhrasePump] Learning Through PhrasePump (About the Algorithm)
[User-Guide: Saved Items] Choosing/Selecting the “Right” Items to Save in Your TL
[User-Guide: Text/Reader Mode] What to Keep in Mind When Using the Text/Reader Tool
Etc.

Suggested Tag: #user-guides

Note: I know their goal is to ensure users know what is happening with LR. They want to stay on top of updates and make LR better and better each day. Because of this, information quickly becomes lost or outdated, and with fewer numbered members of staff, the help pages become outdated, and user inquiries go unanswered. The LR Team is spread thin.

Content Using Language Reactor (LR)

Purpose: Community opinions on highlighted content using LR/Language Learning Specific.

Caveats/Details: This wouldn’t be like the #feature-tool tag suggestion below because #content isn’t limited to tools/features of LR (my proposal for #feature-tool is to limit it to community discussion of currently available LR Features).

Examples:

Recommendations for books, videos, and resources based on a particular Language (not LR-specific)
Recommendations for videos to use with Youtube and Netflix based on Language (not TurtleTube Specific)
Personal favorite videos and content in _____ Target Language (Opinion Posts)

Tag Suggestion: #content

Community Discussion of Currently Available LR Features

Purpose: Community discussions of current LR features/tools.

Caveats: I propose that this tag be limited to current tools and features of LR.

Current LR Features:

Text/Reader Tool
Chatbot Tool
Phrasepump
View My “Saved Items”
Turtle Tub
Video File
Netflix Catalogue
Youtube Catalogue
Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) on Netflix
Chrome Extension

Tag Suggestion: #feature-tool

And More

Purpose: Any other topic that doesn’t fit into the above.

Caveats: It’s always good to have a topic tag that leaves a little more room, mainly because it leaves room for creativity and limits the overuse of tags.

Examples:

A public place to ask Developers and LR Team Members questions about LR that the community can’t answer:
- LR Team could search #Other based on the Keyword “Team” / “Developers” / “LR Team” to find these topics quickly/efficiently
- Alternative to a tag could be to have a pinned post to the top of the Open Forum Category / pinned globally post where users can post similar questions: "To the Dev Team/LR Team: #Asked the Community? Can’t Find the Answer? Ask Us Here *
- SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) could be to first discuss with other Users of LR in the #how-to #ask-the-community categories (or #user-guides tag) before posting here.
- Ex. I still can’t figure out what translation/LR is using for the mini/full dictionaries:
  ----> [LR Team/Developers] What dictionary is used for the mini/full dictionaries? Does it change based on the language used? If so, can you provide a list?
- Ex. "I have no idea how often LR gets subtitles from shows…What if my show adds a subtitle that is accessible in the Netflix subtitle selection (like English CC vs. English Subs), but it doesn’t show up in the LR settings menu?:
  ----> [LR Team] How come my show has English CC, but it doesn’t show up in the LR Settings menu?
Random “Word of Praise” (ex. Congratulations on being mentioned by Luca Lampiarello)
LR Learners’ Progress updates shared with the community
Etc.

Tag Suggestion: #Other

Note on Tag Suggestions

Note on Tag Suggestions: Again, to keep things tidy in this proposed category, actually being able to tag posts in this category would help facilitate communication among LR members interested in these subtopics (which can potentially encourage rich, value-adding discussions within this Forum).

How a Tag Option in LR Might Appear To Forum Members [LR Tags]:

Tagging also has the added function of reducing posts lost to the forum with no responses.

However, a roll-out of this category on the LR forum could mean adding the “Open Forum” category without tagging functions and still be a benefit to the LR community. [End of Note on Tag Suggestions]

An “Open Forum” Category In the LR Forum Has Potential

Do other LR learners/members have any thoughts, ideas, and suggestions on adding the #open-forum category?

I know communication from LR Developers/Team could be better. Still, if this has enough interest, we can at least make this/something like this happen for the benefit of the community.

I would love to contribute to something like this. (I would love to contribute as a moderator specifically for this category to reduce some of the load when I can.

Would you be willing to contribute? If so, how? (Please, remember to ( ) like, if yes, so we can show LR that the community wants this.)

To LR Team/Developers

LR Team/Developers: This app has value. And ya’ll work hard. The potential of this becoming a community of LR learners on this forum versus users who only come and post when there’s a problem is real. I understand there may be flaws in this request/proposal, but I am not saying we should only implement it this way. This is just one possible vision of this community. Please, feel free to share your thoughts, too! Thanks for a great app! I’m excited for what’s to come!

Newer Member Note

Note: I also want to say that even though I am a newer member (joined in June-ish), I really see the opportunities/potential for LR and this Forum, so I hope my new-ness doesn’t prevent you (LR Team/Users) from also seeing the potential in fulling this request.

Since things take a while to happen on the LR Forum, I wanted to post this now so that it may accrue enough interest to get the LR Team’s attention over time. I will update the examples and caveats/details of the proposed “Additional Topic Ideas” for this category as I can!

Additional Notes About the "In English" Category

Not sure if this is the case for everyone, but another reason for this request is that posts can’t be created in the #english Category:

This also appears to be more of an archive of a discussion/time capsule category since the category description references LLN (Used to be LLN and LLY, but merged into LR):

Welcome to LLN forum. Here you can write about your favorite movies and shows for learning languages, and best techniques for using LLN. Make a new post!

Thank you for skimming/reading! (I know it was long.) You Rock!