HeyHomie was asking about Spanish-language boards similar to the Dope, and it made me wonder if we could have an exception to our English-only policy in a single thread.
Thoughts?
We’ll take it to discussion.
Thanks muchly!
After some discussion among the staff, the consensus is that we can’t really properly look after threads of that nature – not enough of us are fluent enough in other languages besides English for us to be able police threads appropriately.
And it’s not just Spanish – how could we allow for Spanish speakers and overlook those who might want to practice French? Or Esperanto? Or Mandarin? None of which we have happening. (Klingon doesn’t count.)
While we would like to be all things to all people and we appreciate your time and attention, we can’t do everything. So we’re going to have to turn this down. Sorry.
Ah, well; fair enough. The point about other languages occurred to me, too. We could conceivably end up with a entire forum of single-language threads. And I hoped that the spoilered translations would help the moderation, but then again, if the moderator doesn’t speak Spanish (or Klingon, or whatever), they have no way of knowing how accurate the translation is. Nor might some of the posters, for that matter.
So, yeah - I see the pitfalls. But thanks for considering it!
And besides, I’m now addicted to WordReference, as someone mentioned in the other thread. It’s language-crack. Caramel-coated language-crack, at that. I recommend it.
I’m not sure I’m following the reasoning here. Are you saying you aren’t going to allow a Spanish language thread because you don’t have Spanish speaking moderators? Or are you saying you aren’t going to allow a Spanish language thread because you don’t have Mandarin speaking moderators?
I can understand why you would prohibit threads in languages no moderator can read. But it’s not a slippery slope. Allowing a Spanish thread, if it can be moderated, does not require you to allow an equivalent Italian or Japanese thread.
After polling the staff, it appears that I’m the only moderator with sufficient fluency in Spanish to moderate a thread in that language. While there could be certain kinds of discussions in Spanish that I might be willing to moderate, such as on movies or literature, that does not include a thread for practicing Spanish such as the one proposed. First of all, there are better sites for that, some of which were suggested in the original thread. Second, would you really want to read a thread in English in which most of the posters were not native speakers? As Nava said in the other thread:
Ok, I wouldn’t have to read every post, but still moderating a practice thread would probable give me a headache. 
True. The only other languages I think that some members of the moderation staff may have some knowledge of are French and German. (I know some French, but not nearly as well as Spanish.) But I didn’t get the sense that any of the other moderators would be eager to moderate any other language either.
I think the main issue is that there are plenty of foreign language boards out there that would be better for this than this one. We can’t be all things to all people.
Personally, I don’t see a problem with making a foreign language thread for any language where (1) there’s enough interest to justify it and (b) there’s a moderator who’s fluent enough to moderate and willing to do it. I’d like to think that we’re all mature enough here that we’re not going to throw a hissy fit if our pet language doesn’t have the moderation to get its own thread. (Or at least that the mods will smack down anyone who tries.)
This seems to preclude Spanish (at least until such time as there’s a mod willing and able), but it would still leave the door open for other languages.
We could title it “¿Quien Es Mas Macho?”
Que lastima.
Perhaps you could deputize one of our native speakers to moderate only that one thread. We have quite a few fluent Spanish speakers on this board.
Can Nava throw books at them? PLEASE?
It was in fact suggested that Nava could be deputized for such a task, but that she might be tempted to start banning people for misuse of the subjunctive.
True, but the key is finding discussions you want to participate in anyway with people you want to talk to anyway, and then using the language you want to practice in that context.
Opportunities to practice Spanish are all over the internet but as an English speaker who would really like to improve my written Spanish I still spend far more time at the Dope than any venues were I could (and should) be practicing my Spanish.
I guess the answer has already been given but if the discussion should come up again among the staff don’t let the fact that there are already other places to do this be what guides the decision - there would only be one place to participate in the Dope in Spanish if it ever came to pass.
I would volunteer to be an unofficial tattle-tale (as opposed to a mod or deputy - I would never want to steal away any of the limelight, perks, and compensation packages you guys get). But I would devote time to reading the thread with an eye toward board rules daily, and report posts that seemed suspicious based on what limited Spanish I do have. (as I’m sure many of the better Spanish speakers would do too.)
Admit it, all of the mods are fluent in Klingon…
I don’t know a word of Klingon.
I AM fluent in Dwarven, though.
Can we have a thread in that?
We’ll keep it short.
Ah, it would indeed be a shame if she were to do that!
“Yo quiero un Big Mac con un Coke”
There; that’s about all the Spanish you’ll ever need to survive overseas.
De nada.
Yeah, but what if I want a Whopper and a Pepsi?
Jeez John! You want everything or get fed?
Anglos: que complicados son!