Not everyone speaks english well

[Susan]

One of our recent new users, clairezoey, attracted a lot of smites over a very short time because members thought the person was trolling. However upon review I think many of the posts were actually well intentioned. The user simply does not speak English very well, as they was born in Malaysia.  Please keep this in mind when reading their posts. You can trust your moderation staff to ferret out and deal with legitimate internet trolls when necessary. For the time being the user's posts will remain on moderation status, however I feel that we as a community owe an apology to clairezoey.

clairezoey, you have my personal apologies as my staff should have realized that you were an English as a second language person, and brought that fact up for the users in your posts.

Later this afternoon, I will be reviewing each action by members and staff towards this person and removing any I actions feel were not warranted when weighed against the benefit of the doubt as to their intention. In this instance no penalties will be assessed towards the person who issued invalid reputation.

[Jillary Woolen Xσx]

Thank you Susan.
it was definatley something that needed to be addressed

[Raven]

Yes, I agree.

[YellowDaisy]

some of the things she did say were a little out of line, but i agree that she may not understand our etiquette because she was not born into this language. that sounds like something that could happen. maybe she just needs to be a little more careful of the words she uses.

[Arch]

I came into the situation too late to moderate, but I did take the language barrier into consideration when I smited her...smote her...for one point of reputation. I still think a couple of her posts were completely tactless (one in particular). I didn't read all of her messages, so I don't know whether, what--a 55% or 60% warning level--was excessive. But I've never seen anyone's warning level go up so fast.

Susan, will her warning level decrease the usual way, or will you or someone else reduce it? It will take a long time for her to get down to a reasonable level and not need every single post approved.

[Janet_Girl]

I am not sure that she understand why she is still being monitored.

[Susan]

some of the things she did say were a little out of line, but i agree that she may not understand our etiquette because she was not born into this language. that sounds like something that could happen. maybe she just needs to be a little more careful of the words she uses.

And I left two smites that were placed as a result of those comments. She doesn't get a free pass, but she does deserve a little understanding.

[Arch]

She doesn't get a free pass, but she does deserve a little understanding.

Of course. I remember how excited I was to find this place. I forgot myself in an early post and used the f word or something. And, you know, I never use that word in real life...

[K8]

I recognized that very probably English was not her primary language, but I saw some of her posts as personal attacks and tried to act (moderate) appropriately.  She was flooding the forum with her posts, and perhaps I acted too hastily to slow her down.  (The reports were coming in fast and furiously for a while.)

I am well capable of learning.  If I acted in error, please let me know.

Your point, however, is one worth all of us taking to heart.  This an international site.  Most people here are adept in using English, but we have many who aren't.  Studies have shown that we tend not to trust someone with a spoken accent.  The same mechanism may be true when evaluating the writings of someone for whom English is not their first language.

- Kate

[Arch]

Studies have shown that we tend not to trust someone with a spoken accent. 

Isn't it nice to know that tribalism is alive and well in human mental programming...wish I could get rid of mine.

[Shang]

Just a throw out, if there's time, but maybe a small section of the forum to be accessed only by moderators and people approved by moderators to help the people get a better grasp of the language?  It seems to work well on another site I belong to where there are lots of non-Native English speakers and having access to the Writer's Workshop helps the people learn how to type and speak English better.