This was a complicated question for me to decide upon, because I really don't mind if players post in different languages than English. Yet, I see a problem with moderating a forum when I must use a translator for every post. This isn't a problem right now because the forum is still very small in active posting players. Eventually it will be an issue to deal with.
I was always very angry at another fashion game that banned English on their forum. Only French is allowed. I thought it was a stupid rule, as English is a common language that is in world wide use. I asked the Administrators why they chose to do this as I was able to capture the attention of them due to my unique nature of being the lowest level (6 out of 151) possible and being ranked #3000 out of 20 million players. I'm always reported as a cheater by high-level players who lose money to me in challenges, so I got to know the Administrators very well on a personal level of amusement while investigating my account. I played fair, because there is no rule you must advance to the next higher level, and that impressed them enough to leave me alone but curious about my methods enough to ask me how I do it. This turned into more serious discussions in English. Yes those very same Admin, spoke English fluently too.
Of course for the French, language is a national identity and pride. They then told me that not all of their moderators can speak English, because it wasn't always taught in Europe as it is today. They have older aged moderators, and they felt it best to stick to a single language despite the game being world wide. Sure mostly French people and territories join that game, but how limited they are by banning all players from a forum that don't speak French. I have tracking software that places all players who visit my profile on that game. My finding is: By banning all other languages they limit their own population growth. All of the dot's on my map of users are mostly in France yet they only account for 58% of the players ( Of just a little over 30,000 different players who visited my profile in the past year.) So that site actually discriminates against 42% of their own players. I wonder how many English speaking Friends I didn't make because they couldn't write in English, and I stopped bothering even replying to my private messages, because it is tedious for me to use French saying basically the same thing 20 times a day." I only speak English fluently". I am still extremely popular on that site, and while I used to reply to all of my fan mail, I suddenly just stopped because translators have major flaws. This was pointed out to me very kindly by a bilingual player. It came as no surprise to me that if I did reply to other players in English in a private message 92% would reply back to me in English.
Silly little flaws in translation can have major consequences. Even while living in England I felt like I was still speaking a different form of English from America. Some people from the northern part of England I couldn't understand but a single word scattered in a sentence. Yeah, I may have ruffled a few feathers in the process too with my American Slang,and country girl western drawl/dialect. I am a type of American Farmer too. Imagine the difference of two people with a common cause. I can feed chickens and milk cows too. I didn't need an English man to teach me how to pull on a goats tits, but it was HIS Farm. I felt I must respect his ownership and pride. I took the lesson with grace.
So with these experiences I had, it made me think about that stupid rule on another game, as I'm looking at our forum today. I think it is great to meet other people that share a language, but shouldn't that be shared more in a private conversation?
There is already a
thread about everyone's nationality so it seems to me that if people actually posted with respect for the forum they would match up quite naturally on a private message. The problem is, everyone seems to still always start a new thread, like it is a personal Facebook account. The 'One Poster Losers' is how I understand Facebook and their users habits.
No existing thread is good enough for a Face Booker. They must make another, exactly the same as someone else 2 days ago. Now take that to infinity, and you will know why I refuse to even bother with a SPAM site like Facebook, They did do something successful. Cashing in on ADHD and ignorance in young people. If greed is the goal for a Mr. Zuckerburg. Even his phony name mocks the intelligence of it's users, but it became to big to fail, because there is that many
narcissists in the world too. Me, me. me/ Who are You? (as if you really care) ,You are now the friend, of a friend ,15 times twice removed and twice disliked. and your page is as boring as a 1970's slide show of my bare baby ass on a nudist beach.
No, I wouldn't write about that in any language, and certainly not on Facebook. OK, I could write my thought's in German, but does that make the content better if only 1% could read me and my emotional pain?
The General Forum is for everybody, and It feels a bit discriminatory to me, if a thread is written in a language that the majority of players cannot use or even read or understand enough to reply too.
My French is pathetic at best.
I'm totally limited in social interaction and not by my own choice. It once was the rule's that I couldn't even speak at home as a child because of the risk of death. The German language actually causes me to go a little insane when I hear it. My father was not a very good example of a listener or as a man. The beatings in German will last a life-time for me, and beyond. My own father is the only person I truly hate, at my own risk of going to hell. I am a child who was banned to even speak a single language at home. I really don't think you really understand my passion about the freedom of speech because I pray you never had parents like mine. My mother actually use to smuggle books to me to read at 6 years old. She used to read to me too, but sadly that is all I really remember her for. She did at least give me an education that cannot be bought at any price from an American collage. Is Jude Deveraux an author you would give a 6 year old child to read? My mother did, because it was all she had to give to her child.
Society gave me the freedom to speak up as an adult.
So this is just my opinion.
I wish more people actually read books. The tactile feel of a page turned when reading is a joy to me. of course during my life, I also saw books that were once considered works of art, now also banned in a politically correct world. Shakespeare is actually a banned author due to sexual content in my State (RL) but the child who was my age when I read his works now uses a cell phone to SEXT other children. and with the common core education American children are now getting. : 2+2 = 10, 5, 3, 8, 4,
pi=3.14159 26535 There is no wrong answer in America. It's not allowed. You get a passing grade. Just show your work, and any number will do.
Math is a language too. Who would actually write a post in zero's and 1's? It's possible because there is some very smart kids in the world. Is Binary code going to become an official language? 
