But also, the total is about 256 which is a bit large for an "active user" count. We really have only 4: metavision, kcurie, kukute and perclupi as this is about residence, not nationality.
Anyway, 1/4 of this is made up by UK + Ireland, which probably explains the Anglo bias in the site content that Fran was compaining about recently.
Also, there is a network effect where you need more than one person to have a dialogue and at least three for a conversation. If there's only one person who knows about a given country, they can post "informative" content but there will be little debate around it.
From the figures I gave we have Sargon (who is Russian!) for CZ, Almanax and Generic for AT, DoDo for HU, and nobody for SK, SI or HR. Nanne (DE) and Fran (CH) are interested, plus 5 British residents. When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
I agree with you here - While I could post some, as you say, "informative" posts about what happens in this corner of the EU, as the coverage of CZ in the global/european media is virtually non-existent, it's sort of the lack of debate around it/perceived lack of interest that's slightly putting me off (and a cough little bit of laziness), not to forget the fact I sadly don't pay that much attention to local politics as I should have.
But the more important thing I've been wondering about is how to frame such posts.
The language disconnect between the global and local media leads to 'theme/issue' disconnect - ie. issuess which are hotly debated here are often ignored here and what is pushed as important here may be of no interest to people outside of the CZ (like corruption of cabinet members, etc). It does not help much that most of the foreign news is coming via state-run news agency (similar to the current outcry in the US that virtually all of the foreign news is just rehashed AP/Reuters). But even the coverage of the European parliament (and hence no local opinions one could report/translate/summarize).
Sometimes there are issues which could be certainly of interest - the US radar site, recent recognition of Kosovo - which Klaus considers shameful, the healthcare deform (the ruling coalition wants to introduce "managed healthcare" as seen in the US(!)).
But I promise I will try to think about it a little bit more ;-)
The side by side translation capability is one excellent solution. But is it enough? How do the one in a million find themselves here in the first place? And what makes them stay past the 2 seconds of splash page time?
I still believe that we need a statement of intent on the splash page that makes a 'promise' to potential new member - even if the promise is as vague as seems inevitable after our numerous discussions. You can't be me, I'm taken
