> [mailto:CONLANG@listserv.brown.edu] On Behalf Of Sai Emrys
> Right now, the conlang community as a whole is split up into
> many separate fora.
>
> To list only some of them ....
> ... as well as literally hundreds of personal websites with
essays,
> grammars, apologia, etc.
>
> Now, I can fully understand that in some cases this has been
necessary
> from the perspective of keeping discussion topical and to keep
people
> from butting heads too much (auxlang evangelism comes to mind
as one
> very easy flamewar-starter). I can also completely understand
the
> different utility, and mood, created by different fora types.
As a member of both Conlang and Auxlang, I can say you are very
correct. Not that there aren't auxlangers that can play
friendly, but the ones who don't tend not to be conlangers at
all but rather adherents to some conlang they chose as their
favorite. There are even those that aren't on this list, that I
think could gain from it, if only because there seems to be a
lot more linguistic expertise here.
> However, it seems to me that this degree of splitting is both
> technically and socially suboptimal.
>
> Our community - and here I speak of all online conlangers
worldwide,
> of whatever stripe - is not that large; on the whole, we are
probably
> a couple thousand people, and a couple hundred who are active.
This
> splitting, IME, results in simply many small, poorly
organized, and
> fragile fora, that die as soon as the originator loses the
energy to
> do it... which always does happen sooner or later.
>
> I think that this is a shame, because many such projects that
have
> died for lack of collaboration have been admirable -
especially wikis
> (which tend towards stubhood) and media (which die once the
originator
> can't come up with all the content themselves).
I think a good Wiki is in order. Langmaker was a good one
though it seems to have undergone a lot of neglect lately that
makes it something less than useful.
> What I would like to see is for these communities to come
together
> into basically one central, multifaceted site - ...
> ...
Well it would be nice to at least see all the *generic*
conlanging groups join together under one, as a supplement to
all the more specialized groups. Conlang-L would be my second
choice because I really prefer Usenet as a medium for
discussion, but alt.language.artificial doesn't get the
involvement it once did.