I believe that the difficulty of a topic should not ban it from being discussed. So I am opening up @maina’s thread in a different way
“How do we standardize Radar for a Global Audience?”.
@maina raised a valid problem in rude way so no surprises it turned nasty quickly.
Radar is predominantly filled with Nigerians therefore it is most likely most of the topics submitted would be from Nigerians and also be localized in nature. However, if we want go beyond being a Nigerian site (maybe PAN Anglo Speaking Africa)?, I believe we have to be understanding (within reason) and write in a way visitors will feel a bit welcome.
Within reason because I no sabi write Chinese. . So we have to agree that this is an English site.
Here are a few suggestions.
When we use Nigerian/Local jargon it would help to translate it.However, i you read and dont understand, you can ask for it to be translated.
Currency converted to USD would help. (Although USD is no SI unit @maina and the US is the number one infractor of SI units.
Non Nigerians should try and submit stories from other parts of the world and we Nigerians should try and participate in those discussions.
Invite your crew in “retaliation” and balance the make
up of this place.
Really nothing to add here, as always, Oo makes sense. I was a bit chagrined at how quickly the negativity in that thread escalated, despite our best efforts to be civil and understanding about it. But I’m glad that this community is a proactively positive one. All’s well that ends well. Let’s all get along, shall we?
In the spirit of making sure that Radar transcends borders, I have made a point of inviting my people from other countries very early on. Some of them are @erik@macharia@hsherman@limbikani…and I hope that they’ve found the conversations on here valuable.
@Lordbanks and I were talking about this yesterday (or was it the day before) and we agreed that these were basic guidelines that could work. I think this could be a great opportunity to see what’s going on across the continent. I prefer to think of Africa as a country with lots of cities incl. Lagos, Nairobi, Cape Town, J’burg, Accra, Cairo etc. We have a lot to learn from each other, esp. how alike we are!
I really don’t think we should have to use USD. A Nigerian making similar demands on a US based or South Africa based forum would be laughed out of the room.
Why can’t Nigerians ever have anything?
Are people really too lazy to plug in naira figures and convert in Google or post a quick, hey what does this word mean?
SO has gotten a rep for being unfriendly to new users and for a long time pre-their non-English sites, if you didn’t speak fluent English you were told to go somewhere else, so don’t know if this is the best example.
Anyway, I’m good with most of the stuff above, but re: the currency thing I have to side with @sugabelly on this one. Conversion is as easy as a Google away. It’s easier for me to think and talk in a currency I use everyday as opposed to one I don’t.
I’m sure an English language forum will be a tough environment to non-English speakers. I’m sure in every community there will be those that would be insensitive and be hard on those non-native speakers. It’s what happens when people gather: you’ll have some that are less polite, less tactful and less considerate than others.
The thing here is we’re assuming these non-Nigerians read and write English fluently. They will have trouble understanding localized colloquial simply because in addition to the language, you must be from a region or have extensive knowledge about it to be a part of the discussion. Reducing / removing that additional requirement for participation is the spirit of the discussion.
My stack overflow example is because you only need to understand the language and the subject matter to participate. If you have / understand a problem and can communicate in English …welcome! Same thing with the radar.
If you’re interested in tech (design, programming etc) and can communicate in English, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t feel comfortable here.
It’s not automatic, which is why we’re having this discussion on what we need to do to make it more comfortable for people outside our region to feel welcome here.
An excerpt from something I read this morning that communicates my sentiments more accurately than my own words have.
I don’t think I was ever outright mean to anyone. I was just callously indifferent and on a long enough timeline that is indistinguishable from being mean. In a cruel twist of irony I thought that was what it meant to be professional. In retrospect it just seems inhuman. It will take me several posts to details the many mistakes that got me to this point, but my biggest lesson was the importance of kindness.
Being kind isn’t the same as being nice. It isn’t about superficial praise. It doesn’t mean dulling your opinions. And it shouldn’t diminish the passion with which you present them.
Being kind is fundamentally about taking responsibility for your impact on the people around you. It requires you be mindful of their feelings and considerate of the way your presence affects them.
