# showing the best (most interesting) messages.



## for learning

Hello!
I am a member of this forums short time ago, two or three months. It is really useful. 
I have come up with an idea. Since all of us want to improve some language and also, at least sometimes, are very interested in giving good explanations or translations to other foreros I would see very interesting if the moderators(or some of them)or someone as far as they feel like to, for example once a week,choose the best transalations or explanations they find and show them in some new place on the site. In doing this we could enjoy and learn from those threads that otherwise we would never see since we can not watch all the threads which are shown. Besides it could be stimulating for those who write those messages and encourage them to continious doing such effort that the rest of foreros aprecciate so much.
I think it could be very useful to all of the members and even depending on the way is done it could be even amusing.
I hope you can understand the message as my english is not very good. Sorry about that, and thank you so much for everything.
Best regards! SAludos!


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## ewie

¡Saludos FL!
I like your idea: _Thread(s) of the Week_


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## Tagarela

Hi,

It is a good idea, but I guess that asking it as a Mod's Duty is too much for our staff =) They already have too much work trying to organize our mess around here. Perhaps a system of voting. I saw it in a website (I'm not sure if I can say the name) for language learning, over there one may say if the comments that other people say are usefull or not. 

I guess that a similar discusson was held here sometimes ago, about member status besides amount of posts. 

Good bye.:


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## for learning

Thank you!
My original idea was more focused in the possibility of having the opportunity of enjoying and learning with  very good messages  at the same time as encouraging  and "pricing" or "recognizing" the foreros for that, than in the idea of creating a kind of contest or popular voting(though I respect it, of course).
I have thought of moderatos as I judge them the most prepared for such goal, but I understand they have job enough organizing our mess. It could be too a task  done  by certain members. Anyway it doesn`t have to be necessarily  something very formal or rigurous , that could occupy much time, but just selecting good messages or messages that call their attention (under the criterions  chosen) when they see them and afterwards selecting the best/s(interesting/s) one/s.
If we all  vote I think it woud be more like a contest and maybe it would have less rigour( dont´t you think so?); and as the messages daily sent are usually very interestings themselves many of the foreros could find more interesting or useful to spend their time on reading whatever message they find than having to vote.
Thought I understand that doing it well it coud be also fine.
Thanks again.

Saludos!. Best regards!


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## swift

Hola Forlearning. 

Ya hemos discutido este asunto de la popularidad y de las mejores respuestas (Cf. este hilo, y este). Yo pienso que el problema es complejo y suscita varios interrogantes: 1) ¿Existe voluntad de parte de los moderadores? 2) ¿Cuál será la categoría de análisis y cuáles los criterios de selección? Corolario de éste: _¿cómo se define lo interesante y lo mejor?_ 3) ¿Se presta la plataforma actual para tal sistema de listado de respuestas más interesantes?

Muchos saludos,


swift


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## Vanda

Swift was faster than me. As you can see in the discussions he has linked, we have discussed this issue many times and in the end we don't think it is a good idea. 
There are many many things to consider why this post and not that is the best answer to the question if that one which nobody agreed being the best is actually, the very one that fits my context and that I think it is the proper and so the best one for me. 

Just in time: We already have - among some foreros - a hard competition to show who is the best. We don't need to officialize a ''headache''.


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## for learning

Hello again!
I have read many(almost the most) of the post written in those threads.
It is fine to see that this idea has been argued before and they show some solutions. However I see in my idea some subtly differences from those.
I woudn`t like to promote competition, and I think that having this very clear from the begining that would never be generated.
In fact I woudn` intend to choose necessarily the best posts or (threads) but just those that some members(I would like them to be moderators)choose, by any criteria. This criteria could be just "good explanation", "good translation"," interesting point of view", " very helpfull ","very nice written"," original"," funny", " profound", I mean whatever...
Knowing from the very begining that those messages are not chosen among all ( as not all are read) and that are not necessarily "the best" I think foreros would just enjoy them and learn a lot from them.
And besides, If accompanying the selected post there is an explanation about why it has been chosen I think it would encourage the writter. 
Every forum could has its own selected message.
I think it wouldn`t take much time, just when the moderator or member saw an special post he/she could "keep" it or select it and every week make a selection among them.
Of course, not all the members would be suitable for such task, but sure there would be some(not I for sure) .
The matter about this point of view , seems to me, would be if the moderators were willing to do that(or some members).
Maybe even the rest of members could help reporting any interesting post we see either directly to the moderators or to a specific list. 

Thanks again for all your messages!
Best regards!

For the record, I know moderators do much work. We all appreciate it.


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## Nanon

I second and third everything Vanda and Swift said .

In a glossary or dictionary approach, tagging, voting and selecting may be the most appropriate way. But when one wants to go further into (con)texts, or in general whenever the translator's subjectivity is involved, it may be difficult to select the best thread(s). 

Besides, moderators already do some selection by merging threads that cover the same terms or topics.


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## GavinW

Nanon said:


> In a glossary or dictionary approach, tagging, voting and selecting may be the most appropriate way. But when one wants to go further into (con)texts, or in general whenever the translator's subjectivity is involved, it may be difficult to select the best thread(s).


 
"Difficult"? I say impossible!
The bottom line is WR's (largely unwritten, perhaps unwritable) philosophy (yes... there is one...). True, a casual visitor would gain (at least _superficially_, shall we say) from such a tagging system. He or she would learn tidbits of information, from a random (unrelated) selection of posts/threads. All the criteria mentioned by for_learning could and would be manifest, for the delectation of this cherry-picking forero.
But to what end?
Surely it's better to encourage all foreros (guests, newbies, senior members) to develop those searching and posting _habits_ that are likely to reward a more thorough search, and a closer reading, with unexpected discoveries, ie with clarity and _quality_ in unlooked-for places, and to generate and maximize the expectation that such "quality" (in whatever shape or form) may be found anywhere, just around the corner, in the very next post or thread, despite an unglamorous thread title, and what may be an unassuming user profile (new member, infrequent contributor, unlikely language match etc). That sense of _anticipation_, however often it fails to be fulfilled, is, I believe, vital in generating a culture of alertness and _sensibility_ that is ultimately self-sustaining, and self-propagating, fostering an environment in which each and every contributor has the clear perception that they have an equal platform from which to address the WR community, and ultimately achieve their own constituency (which is a legitimate ambition in any community). This in turn acts as an incentive for bringing out the best in everybody (this is a reference to the mechanisms at WR which implicitly, and perhaps subliminally, _train_ foreros to develop those intellectual skills, as well as linguistic skills, which are of most benefit to everyone). 
At the same time, the current system, with no "filters", which I believe works well ("if it ain't broken, don't fix it"), also maximizes our skills of subjective judgment and selection. One decides for oneself what is accurate and what is not, what is useful and what is not, what is informative, helpful and aids understanding, and what is dross or, sometimes, mere empty word-play and a possibly sterile intellectual exercise which is unlikely to lead to fresh discoveries about language.
This, surely, is the ultimate end/goal of the forums: not showcasing _individual_ talent but nurturing a _collective_ culture of communication and mutual understanding, in which talent and commitment are cultivated without the risk of self-consciousness, or the risk of being misconstrued as vehicles for self-promotion...


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## Nanon

Gavin, I concur with every single word of your post. "Difficult" was a gross understatement!


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## cuchuflete

for learning said:


> My original idea was more focused in the possibility of having the opportunity of enjoying and learning with  *very good messages*  at the same time as encouraging  and "pricing" or "recognizing" the foreros for that, than in the idea of creating a kind of contest or popular voting(though I respect it, of course).



There are thousands of "very good messages" posted every week.


> I have thought of moderatos as *I judge them the most prepared for such goal*, but I understand they have job enough organizing our mess. It could be too a task  done  by certain members.


 I beg to differ.  Many of the very best forum contributors, in my opinion as an active member, are not moderators.  Moderators are not selected because they are judged, in any hierarchical sense, to be "better" than other forum members.  See the FAQ about moderators for much more detail. 





> Anyway it doesn`t have to be necessarily  something very formal or rigurous , that could occupy much time, but just selecting good messages or messages that call their attention (under the criterions  chosen) when they see them and afterwards selecting the best/s(interesting/s) one/s.


 See GavinW's superb post, above, for more thoughts about the potential richness of the forum, and how to best enjoy it.


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## Víctor Pérez

I like the idea. Indeed, I suggested it a long time ago: here. 

Mike was going to study it but time runs always too fast for all of us.


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## for learning

Thank you . I have just read that thread. I have matched up with some points.
My idea was just a suggestion. I didn`t, don`t and wouldn`t want to generate controversy; very far from that.

Thanks again for allowing me to use this forum. 
Best regards!


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## GavinW

for learning said:


> My idea was just a suggestion. I didn`t, don`t and wouldn`t want to generate controversy; very far from that.
> 
> No controversy at all! Just a very interesting and useful discussion! And quite likely an ongoing one....
> 
> Thanks again for allowing me to use this forum.
> 
> Thanks for being there! ;-)


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## for learning

Grazie!


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