Decision that was taken and is in effect on Maltese/English.

[skip]

This is the decision that was taken:

Any discussion started in English must be answered in English, any answers in Maltese will be flagged giving users a chance to edit them and then they will be removed. (Reference to local fish names or technical names in Maltese will be allowed)

Please see Page 2 for an update http://maltafishingforum.com/talk/index.php?topic=966.msg10906#msg10906

Any thread started in Maltese can continue in Maltese or English, although take note that the author prefers to express himself and read answers in Maltese (Answers in English may well be ignored/not understood.)

If you would like to contribute, but cannot reply in Maltese please refer to the post on Page 2 http://maltafishingforum.com/talk/index.php?topic=966.msg10906#msg10906

As it doesn't seem to be clear to everyone, I want to clarify and make the following very clear, as some forum members don't agree, but a decision has been taken.

For the last three years the forum has been 99.9% in English and we attracted a large number of members, whereas lately it has switched to mostly Maltese. Whilst this is the Malta Fishing Forum it is NOT the Maltese Fishing Forum, both English and Maltese are joint languages.

As I have already mentioned several times the site attracts around 7000 visitors a month and the majority are not Maltese. If we lose this traffic because all the content is in Maltese, we lose our strength with potential sponsors etc.

Whilst I thank those for their concerns, in this instance I am sorry but it's time to respect the decision that was taken. There are now many posts that are in Maltese where people who write only in Maltese can surely contribute to those without any problems.

Everyone now has six days left to ammend recent posts that are in the wrong place before they will be removed.

Regards,

Skip

[skip]

Just to add to this in an effort to make it easier for everyone. Only posts made as from 09:00 today 17th Sept need to be ammended into English if they are in a topic that was stared in English, like Imsell, My Catches, More illegal net fishing etc.

You have all been more than fairly warned so please don't get upset when we start checking and removing the posts that are in breach next Wednesday.

You can disregard this, thanks to our volunteers who offered to help

[fishfinder]

Skip, is it possible to shade the titles in colour in order to realize in which language it was started cause sometimes there's alot of pages and if someone replies by mistake in another language it comes automatically to reply in the last language.

thanks
Charlot

[EmicMalta]

good idea fishfinder

[camkev]

Yes,it will help a lot!!!!

[skip]

I just tried and it seems that unfortunately not, though I agree it would make things easier it doesn't appear to be a functionality that is offered.

That is why I decided to change things only from posts made from yesterday 09:00 onwards so that one doesn't have to go back so far, even though the annoucement was displayed on the main entrance to the site for several weeks for everyone to see. Just go to the first page, see the first post and then you're set.

What's a shame is that even after all this, newsletter, this topic, people are still even today continuing to post as they wish. I say a shame because an answer from someone is a contribution so I won't like removing them.

[ramio]

Correct me skip if I'm wrong, but the heading/ title of the topic or tread, isn't it in the same language as the first opening post? So the original language of every post having the same tread-title can be identified, no?

[placebo]

This is becoming a little bit silly!
A lot of people contribute in maltese english or whatever! The most important thing is that we offer foreigners and english speaking visitors or members the help available.

And we definitely do on this forum. Some people here even offer free fishing trips to foreign visitors and visitors surely know how kind are the maltese people.

I suggest we leave everything as it is or else we will lose a lot of important cotributors. Else one should consider reserving some forum space in which only english language is used. This section should be monitored regularly and in case any maltese language is being used the writer/ contributor should be notified.

There is also the possibility of Private messages so any foreigners who need more info can always mssg any english speaking guys in case of any queries!

[skip]

Placebo, what's silly is that people can't respect rules once they are introduced and enforced. Frankly I am sick and tired of people challenging decisions taken. Go on medfish or other forums and see what happens if you say one thing out of line in a post, you get an instant ban.

I created this forum and I know what I wanted to create when I did it. I don't expect people to be telling me how it should be because it's called the Malta Fishing Forum or any crap like that. If they don't like it they can move on, that's their choice.

Frankly I've spent hours bending over backwards to accomodate people's requests, do this, do that, can we have this, can we have that. We have 21 premium members who have contributed out of 576, that's only 3.6%, and the majority of those who complain and have a problem with things, have not contributed that much, and are new members with a low post count.

No one has said you can't create a new topic in Maltese nor restricted the number of new topics that can be created in Maltese, in that respect it's a free for all whether it's English or Maltese.

But as Ramio has pointed out the title/heading of the first post is usually a pretty good indicator.

In your case Placebo I have noticed that you always go out of your way to help foreigners with requests for info on shore fishing etc and that you regularily invite them to go out fishing with you, and that is very commendable.

I suggest we leave everything as it is or else we will lose a lot of important cotributors. Else one should consider reserving some forum space in which only english language is used. This section should be monitored regularly and in case any maltese language is being used the writer/ contributor should be notified.

Why should we be losing alot of important contributors??? I really don't think people are understanding and yet it's so simple.

Post Started in English - Reply in English
Post Started in Maltese - Reply in Maltese/English, but Maltese is preferred by the topic started. If you reply in English please request a translation as per http://maltafishingforum.com/talk/index.php?topic=966.msg10906#msg10906

I've offered to create a reserved space for Maltese only boards but this was rejected, I certainly am not going to do it the other way around.

Why are we Maltese (and as I am half Maltese I feel I can say that) always so narrow minded, there is a big wide world outside of Malta. I created The Malta Fishing Forum to unite people who live and fish in Malta, those who want to come here to fish from overseas and those who have a general interest in fishing in other countries who come and read to see what we're doing. I place equal importance on all three areas.

In closing, if people feel so hard done by this, then thank you very much for all your contributions and the forum can die a natural death, staying as is with no further posts. The choice of whether you post collectively belongs to you all, but the running and direction of the forum does NOT

[EmicMalta]

I created The Malta Fishing Forum to unite people who live and fish in Malta, those who want to come here to fish from overseas and those who have a general interest in fishing in other countries who come and read to see what we're doing. I place equal importance on all three areas.

I agree 100% with this. Even I understand that for some is hard to write in english (as you see even my english is very poor) but here we get a lot of visitors from outside this island and its really inportant. Sometimes I do some reserch from other forums where there is a french and even greek forums but when I open them and see that there i no english languge, I close the web immidatly. Sure there will be information but it s too hard for me to try to undersand the info.

As for some kind of fishing methodes there are words that only in maltese can say them and its good to leave them like that, but lets every one make his part.

[Simon G]

as we had mentioned earlier if a word is used in an other language it does not matter as long as the post and thread continue in the original languasge it started.  if any one wants to voulonteer to translate the posts please let us know

[Perla 165]

"In closing, if people feel so hard done by this, then thank you very much for all your contributions and the forum can die a natural death "   Are you saying that you want the forum  running on  English language and if not " The Forum Can Die A Natural Death "

[LapsiBoy]

In my opinion it makes no difference to me i understand both english and maltese, so realy do as you like just not chinese hihi.

[The_Gaffer]

Guys, no one is telling you to quit the forum.  But there are some basic rules that have to be followed.  If a thread is started in Maltese, then we can all continue to contribute in either maltese or english.  However, if a thread is started in English, then please, continue to post in English.  We must provide some continuity here.  As skip mentioned, the MFF gets on avarage 7000 visitors each month, a portion of those are foreigners, who most probably are potential tourists checking out fishing in Malta. I follow each thread and post here, and can personally vouch for everyone that when a foreigner asks for some advice, even those members who usually post in maltese are always ready to help, and answer any query in english. So guys, its not that difficult to stick to some common ground rules here.

[skip]

Perla165 and Maxxat both of you are not understanding me. No one is saying you cannot post in Maltese within the forum, nor am I saying I only want posts to be in English.

If someone asks a question in Maltese, you can answer in both languages but Maltese is clearly preferred by the person who started the question.

For example topic  'Sajd ta bil-lejl mill-Art'  is a very popular topic all in Maltese, read 1244 times with several pages of replies in Maltese. It's a topic that started in Maltese and has continued in Maltese, and that's no problem at all.

What I'm saying is that if I or anyone else starts a question in English, reply in English only.

This topic 'More illegal net fishing' was started in English, but half way down Perla you switched to Maltese and then it became a mix of mostly Maltese with some English. This is where I am saying this cannot go on, it should have stayed in English. From this post onwards (done by Arti2) http://maltafishingforum.com/talk/index.php?topic=954.msg10364#msg10364 (eg. from 17th after 9am) you will have to edit your answers into English by mid next week or they will be removed.

Nowhere am I saying that if you prefer to read/write in Maltese you are not welcome in the forum, quite the opposite. In fact it is very important to have a mix of interesting posts in both Maltese and English as this attracts the greatest audience all around to everyone's benefit.

In closing, if people feel so hard done by this, then thank you very much for all your contributions and the forum can die a natural death, staying as is with no further posts.

What I am saying is that if people feel they no longer want to come here with the enforcement of this rule because they feel its unfair, or too much of a hassle to edit their recent posts; that's not something I can control. If everyone decides this is unfair or they dont like it so they stop coming and posting, that is what I mean 'the forum will die a natural death'. No new content will mean people won't come back, so the forum will become what they call a dead forum.

Do you understand now? And as SimonG said if anyone wants to volunteer their translation services and spend some hours savings their friends from having to edit the posts that are in the wrong place, please let us know!

I will ask SimonG or someone to translate the above into Maltese as I realise that it might not be clear to our Maltese only speaking members which maybe will help to better explain the situation as I did not think of this before.