The Fit to Talk English project

[Jet Cash]

As some of you know, I started the Fit to Talk English project to help people without English as their first language. Several potentially valuable new members of the forum seemed to be reluctant to post, because of the fear of being attacked as a result of their English skills. I thought that a site where such members could post without fear of attack would be helpful. I was lucky in that some of the senior members here supported the idea. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have been of interest to many of the new members of this forum. This leads to a couple of questions.

Why was the project not supported by those who needed it, and what can I do to improve the project?

If there is little interest, should I just leave it to fade away?

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[jlaw007]

As some of you know, I started the Fit to Talk English project to help people without English as their first language. Several potentially valuable new members of the forum seemed to be reluctant to post, because of the fear of being attacked as a result of their English skills. I thought that a site where such members could post without fear of attack would be helpful. I was lucky in that some of the senior members here supported the idea. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have been of interest to many of the new members of this forum. This leads to a couple of questions.

Why was the project not supported by those who needed it, and what can I do to improve the project?

If there is little interest, should I just leave it to fade away?

Can you send me a link where to find your Fit to Talk English project? First and foremost are people aware of your project? Who are your target people for the project? How many people are you actually expecting to participate? Is this limited to Bitcointalk users? If so maybe the motivation is not sufficient to get people engage in your project. Aside from the fact that people who join your project is expected to be able to express their idea clearly in English you might want to consider putting merit as an additional rewards and perhaps this will be an additional motivation for people to participate in your project. If you send me the link I will check it myself and I can also make referrals to my friends to join your project.

Another suggestion is if you found someone who's post is really bad, you can try to send a personal message and offer your project to them.  Good luck.

[Jet Cash]

Thanks for your reply, and the link is
http://fittotalk.com/english-talk/index.php

Merit is an award fir posting in the Bitcoin Talk forum, and it would be a breach of the forum's trust if sMerits were awarded for contributions on an alternative website. One other important consideration is the fact that participation should be as a result of a desire to improve English skills, and not to try to seek any rewards from the project. Many internet sites charge for these services.

We do not expect members to post in clear and perfect English. In fact, we want people who have difficulty in expressing themselves to post. If your English is good, then you don't need the site.

[hoanghai101296]

I signed up for the account, Thank you for creating a playground, a place where I can improve my English. one more time thank you very much
I believe there will be many people involved in your project, try to develop it do not give up

[mdayonliner]

Why was the project not supported by those who needed it

- People now a days do not care about personal development, unfortunately they care about quick financial gains. I am sure If you could introduce any idea for them to make money then they would happily join there. (i.e: awarding referral bonus, revShare for being active etc etc)

and what can I do to improve the project?

Think about a marketing angle where people will find they will have a financial gain (a greedy way). Believe it or not this is the best bait. Even the biggest food chain Mcdonald's use this bait. A cheese burger for £0.99 but you actually end up spending £5 to £10. It's marketing strategy mate. Give people that they want.

If there is little interest, should I just leave it to fade away?

Depends on how big your cause is. If it's very BIG then stick to it. 1 year/2 years/5 years/10 years... Be consistent. Someday you will figure out how it should be worked.

PS: I noticed FitToTalk since you launched it but did not find it interesting because there were not many members to hangout but I am changing my mind. I am going to join now to support the cause (assuming the cause is big for you)

[triciaa478]

The project was not supported by those who needed it because they went back to their local language section where they can freely express themselves without be stigmatize.

[WindWu]

appears to me that you are creating an english course.
the idea feels noble.
but rather than "talk", why not "type"?

marketing the offer is probably the stumbling block.
maybe market it out to forums where the community is predominantly non-english speaking?

good luck
maybe one day you will have your own ICO

[WindWu]

those on this forum might not be aware that it is available.
do you message them directly? ( although i guess some might feel offended, then again, if they think highly of themselves, they wouldn't sign up anyway )

[Jet Cash]

Thanks for all the replies, and if I give you a bit of background, then perhaps you can see my problem with the site.

Some of you may know that I invest in .com domain names, and FitToTalk.com was one that was already in my portfolio, so that is why it was chosen. I don't think it's too bad, as this forum is called 'Bitcoin Talk'.

I own in excess of 500 .com domain names, and I have a bulk hosting plan that allows for up to 1,000 names, so the site has no marginal cost to me for hosting. If it becomes massively popular, or I start to host images and videos, then it may affect the server use, and that could lead to a price increase. The only cost to me is the registration renewal fee, and if it earns $10 per year or more, then I am making a profit. So far it has picked up $1.60, so cost isn't a factor in my consideration.

My primary objective is to help to clean up the Bitcoin Talk forum, and to make it attractive to some of the big names in the crypto and banking world. There is a brilliant mix of talents here, and as we move into a new and changed economic world and banking system, I would like to be able to discuss this with intelligent and informed members, and not have to put up with useless low grade spam. Fit to Talk is not a primary project for me, but is just an attempt to use an inactive asset for the benefit of the forum.

I think it is a shame that some members have been forced to retreat to their local language boards. Bitcoin is an international phenomenon, and there are many brilliant Bitcoin users who don't have English as their first language. If I can help them to improve their English, so that they are able to contribute local news and information in the forum, then Fit to Talk will have been a success in my opinion.

[loicuagio1979]

Well, i highly appreciate your idea and project. You know, i have "followed" you since April to learn 3 things:
1. How to earn merits
2. How to have good posts
3. How to manage problems in time.
I am from the third world and writing skill is one of my problems. Although i have studied English for 32 years, (in word: thirty two years), i can not write and speak fluently as i desire. Why? I have asked this question for more than 20 years but i can not find the correct answer.
How to persuade you not to leave your web? Well, i think what i said above is sincere enough to persuade you.
I shall open an account there to "fit" my English and i do hope that it shall help me to answer my question.
Regards

[Jet Cash]

If any of you are interested, here is the country breakdown for accesses so far this month. This is for https, non secure is a bit more than a quarter in addition.

Fit to talk https site access - 01-05-2018 to 11-05-2018

This is a nice mix of countries, and it should lead to some interesting discussions, but the lurkers and members don't seem to be dipping their toes in the water. Don't be frightened - we don't have any sharks there, and we don'r even have an ornery catfish.

[r1s2g3]

Why was the project not supported by those who needed it, and what can I do to improve the project?

If there is little interest, should I just leave it to fade away?

If it is not harming you monetarily then I ask you to let it run.
Even it help a single person in this forum then let it run, do not worry about traffic.
(Sorry, I registered but never login, spending most of time in board 6.0 of this forum, so this thing somewhat slipped from my list )

[Jet Cash]

I added a section to discuss the history of some English words and phrases. This is the first entry
Pull the wool over his eyes

Please could you let me know if these topics are of interest to you guys.

Remember that the site is Bitcoin Talk friendly, and you get personal tuition there. This is not something that you will get with sites like grammarly or Google.

[WindWu]

perhaps you could ask for volunteers to post up their posts for rewrite?

that would show them directly how to improve.

maybe they could then edit their original post so the standard overall improves.

[Jet Cash]

I just hoped that some of the crap garbled posters who are pushing bounties and air drops might be interested in becoming members of the forum instead of users and abusers. It looks as if it'a a forlorn hope, and I've already had to recruit a  poster from a webmaster forum. If they want to stay in the gutter and push scams, then I'm not going to try to recruit them, it's better to leave them to fade away.

OK rant over. What I don't understand is what I am doing incorrectly. I had a current member post that I should keep the site going, and that he would be supporting the site. The next thing I see is a post by him promoting a grammarly video intro, and an automated learning site. No mention of Fit to Talk. Well that is a kick in the wedding tackle. I've noticed that the tutors are drifting away as well, because no one want to learn, and that is what will lead the site into dormancy. Anyway I'm going to have to reduce my time on the site, so if you want to keep it available, then use it or lose  it.

The other sad thing is that the forum is still full of people trying to find ways to get merit so that they can spam their bounty stuff. The simple answer to getiing merit is -

Lern about crypto and Bitcoin
Make post to support the Bitcoin Talk community
If you can't post in English, then learn English

If your post count goes over 100, and you haven't received any merit, then you need to stop posting, and do some self-analysis.

[iillaa]

You simply need some  advertising   .

I think there is nothing wrong with your website  it's just that nobody know about it  . 
And I'm totaly against the idea of you making some merit giveaway or  some $$ ( tokens or reward) in order  to get people post there and learn and develop their own selfs , i mean come on  spending  your time to teach some strangers  about english and try to make them better is already  a big thing that some ppl will not giveaway . 

[jlaw007]

Thanks for your reply, and the link is
http://fittotalk.com/english-talk/index.php

Merit is an award fir posting in the Bitcoin Talk forum, and it would be a breach of the forum's trust if sMerits were awarded for contributions on an alternative website. One other important consideration is the fact that participation should be as a result of a desire to improve English skills, and not to try to seek any rewards from the project. Many internet sites charge for these services.

We do not expect members to post in clear and perfect English. In fact, we want people who have difficulty in expressing themselves to post. If your English is good, then you don't need the site.

Yes I was thinking that the fittotalk project is within bitcointalk. I greatly admire your effort to provide a website for this.

Well, I checked the website and the format is similar to bitcointalk.org. There are no shortcuts in learning but we can make it simpler to understand. I do have 3 recommendations for you if it is not too much to improve your approach and to get more people appreciate and participate with Fit To Talk.

First; You could divide it to 3 Parts,  Beginner, Intermediate  and Advance learning. I know you have read many posts here at Bitcointalk and some really do have difficulty in expressing themselves on a beginner level. Dividing it to these categories will make them acknowledge their own level of learning and might be more efficient in addressing their need. You can also include a FREE to TALK BOARD on your website so they can freely express themselves in whichever category they may fall.

Second; Putting some visual aids or images might also help in making the website more appealing and the learning fun.

Third; Make announcements here at Bitcointalk.org. This post actually reached few people. If you can advertise your noble purpose you might actually reach more people. Make the title more appealing. Expressing your mission and vision or simply stating your advocacy will help you reach more people.

You can also accept volunteers if needed,

Good luck and More power to you.

[samarnaaz]

It seems like there are only few Newbies including myself who are interested in learning.

Yeah, i am a new member and i like to learn each and everything... I love to search everything about English learning and many more..

[Jet Cash]

>..<

Thanks for checking the site, and for your helpful comments. The similarity to Bitcoin Talk is accidental - we both use Simple Machines, but BT is substantially enhanced.

I don't think there are enough members to split the site, and I feel that the interaction between membersis a good thing, well it would be if they were a bit more active.

There is a fast chat thread, and that was intended to be similar to your 'free to talk' board.

I don't really like images. It's fine for the kindergarten, but for posting practice, I think a text description is probably better.

As you may have gathered, I'm anti-spam, and I'm a bit cautious about pushing a site which is associated with Bitcoin Talk to its member list.

[nngella]

I am not that techie but, how about making the style of your fit-to-talk Project in chat window form?  By that way people can communicate in english in a more informal way and ask about anything under the sun.  This can really help for them to gain confidence in communicating in english language.