Author Topic: International Representation (Read 47938 times)

Matthew Schenker · « **on:** March 13, 2007, 11:07 AM »

Make sure your country is represented!

VictorL · « **Reply #1 on:** March 13, 2007, 11:42 AM »

What do you mean? Country of birth of country of residence?

Matthew Schenker · « **Reply #2 on:** March 13, 2007, 01:41 PM »

Pick the country you want to represent!

Terry Fogarty · « **Reply #3 on:** May 06, 2007, 10:20 AM »

You forgot to include Tasmania

Matthew Schenker · « **Reply #4 on:** May 06, 2007, 07:36 PM »

Quote from: Tezzer on May 06, 2007, 10:20 AM

You forgot to include Tasmania

Oh man, that's gonna throw off my finely planned alphabetical list!!!

Before I add Tasmania, could I see a show of hands -- how many Tasmanians do we have here?

Matthew

Groggy · « **Reply #5 on:** May 06, 2007, 08:03 PM »

Quote from: Matthew Schenker on May 06, 2007, 07:36 PM

Quote from: Tezzer on May 06, 2007, 10:20 AM
You forgot to include Tasmania
Before I add Tasmania, could I see a show of hands -- how many Tasmanians do we have here?

Tasmania is part of Australia, but if you want to count them, a hand count is more accurate than a head count (in joke).

FFlowboy · « **Reply #6 on:** May 06, 2007, 08:32 PM »

Groggy,
I had a post deleted in Aus for using that kind of "in joke" - For shame

Rob McGilp · « **Reply #7 on:** May 06, 2007, 08:36 PM »

Well Tezzer, you'd have to include W.A. then, they seriously think they're another country!!

Albert

Groggy · « **Reply #8 on:** May 06, 2007, 11:29 PM »

Quote from: FFlowboy on May 06, 2007, 08:32 PM

Groggy,
I had a post deleted in Aus for using that kind of "in joke" - For shame

FF, I was referring to Taswegians having two heads (on their shoulders) nothing else.

FFlowboy · « **Reply #9 on:** May 07, 2007, 03:18 AM »

So was I Groggy, so was I.

phill-k · « **Reply #10 on:** February 10, 2008, 01:57 AM »

YES

the first kiwi

Matthew Schenker · « **Reply #11 on:** March 03, 2008, 11:25 AM »

Everyone,
It's time to re-emphasize the International Representation poll.

The majority of members continue to come from the US, but I have watched the number of people registering from Europe, Australia, Latin America, and Asia grow steadily in recent months. Based on IP stats coming in from my Web host, there are many more members from around the world than are reflected in the poll numbers. At this posting, only 215 people have voted in the poll. That's only about 6% of our members!

Why am I bringing this up now? Well, so far, Festool USA has carried the entire burden of answering member questions, even when those members are from outside the US. I want to put some friendly pressure on European, Australian, Asian, and Latin American Festool branches to have more of a presence here, as members from those regions come to the forum asking good questions and seeking help.

It would help justify the need for more international support if we showed international representation through higher poll numbers.

So, if you have not voted in the International Representation poll, please do so now!

Thanks,
Matthew

mhch · « **Reply #12 on:** March 03, 2008, 12:17 PM »

Can't you display the total number of members near the number of voters,

Of course, it would be best if that information is automatically extracted by a shell
script running regularly on the server (or a similar idea). Automation is the only
sure way of getting information

Ned · « **Reply #13 on:** March 03, 2008, 02:42 PM »

It's been a while since I registered, so please forgive me if it already works this way.

As part of the process when someone registers, automatically send a Private Message to them with a link to the Int'l Rep poll.

I'm talking PM, not the confirmation email.

'Course, they could ignore it.

Ned

Matthew Schenker · « **Reply #14 on:** April 06, 2008, 11:09 AM »

Everyone,
Current status:

There are 3763 members.
230 members have voted in this poll.

That's only about 6%! If you haven't voted, please do it now. We need to know...

Matthew

jonny round boy · « **Reply #15 on:** April 06, 2008, 12:11 PM »

Matthew,

I'd guess that of that 3763 members, an awful lot of them don't check the site regularly. Why don't you send out an e-mail to all members, reminding them that the FOG is here, and asking them to complete the poll. I doubt very much that the 230 of us who've completed it would mind getting a reminder for something we've already done!

You could also add a banner near the top of the page asking people the same (If memory serves, I think you had one for a while before you changed the look of the site).

You might at the same time want to ask members to fill out their profile information more fully.

Also, you have England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland as options, but not Northern Ireland (which anyone from NI or the RoI will tell you is quite different!!!).

mhch · « **Reply #16 on:** April 06, 2008, 12:35 PM »

Would it be a bad idea to group England, Ireland, Scotland, etc ... into the UK ?

mhch · « **Reply #17 on:** April 06, 2008, 12:40 PM »

There are only about 300 members with more than 10 posts (roughly),
so comparing 230 to 3763 might be a bit pessimistic.

Tom Bainbridge · « **Reply #18 on:** April 06, 2008, 01:52 PM »

mathew. there is a very simple reason why uk members ask questions here ................... its Festool UK themselves

they dont answer emails

IF festool uk do answer questions............ its done unofficialy and "off the record"

if a regional manager contacts you know you are going to get an answer.... WRONG.... not in the case of festool uk

it took festool uk 3 weeks to give me a rubbish answer, festool usa's ceo christian o pm'd me directly and got me THE answer within a few days

festool uks website is dire, it has no tips or information like the usa site

it is more difficult to navigate than it should be and the poor search facility makes it even more difficult

it took nearly 3 years before festool uk had a uk website

AND festool uks website................ its done in germany and they dont keep it up to date

the http addresses on the festool uk site are in german, and as of this afternoon the list of exhibitions and shows is two months out of date. the domino has been in the shops nearly 4 weeks before it appeared on the uk website

all the usa members know the kappex is comming and have known it for months, festool uk were slightly different

they denied it existed

there is also an element of uk culture involved here. it is not just festool uk that have a problem with customer relations

the majority of uk companies pay only lip service to it AND it is part of the national culture to keep things secret

why are english newspapers so intrusive? because they know full well that denial is a way of life for politians, companies and civil servants

Dovetail65 · « **Reply #19 on:** April 06, 2008, 01:59 PM »

dirtydeeds I sympathize, Festool is lucky you even purchase their tools with that kind of service.

Nickao

Matthew Schenker · « **Reply #20 on:** April 06, 2008, 05:15 PM »

Quote from: mhch on April 06, 2008, 12:40 PM

There are only about 300 members with more than 10 posts (roughly),
so comparing 230 to 3763 might be a bit pessimistic.

That is an interesting point...
Yes, about 330 members have posted 10 or more times.
However, about 950 members (25% of our total membership) have posted at least one time. And generally speaking, most of those first ones are good, inquiring posts.
I'm not sure exactly how to interpret these figures, but what I've learned is that posting at least once is the big step.
Matthew

mhch · « **Reply #21 on:** April 06, 2008, 10:21 PM »

Posting 1 message is definitely a big step forward, but it does not
imply having seen the international representation poll

1) "International representation" may not be an attractive subject.
What about renaming it, for instance "Please, let us measure who
accesses this forum from what country", or something better.

2) May be it stick out for a while on top of anything, as already suggested.

mhch · « **Reply #22 on:** April 06, 2008, 10:31 PM »

I have no idea of what SMF features are, but it might be more
appropriate to have a total of European memberships.

What about grouping countries, for instance America, Europe, Asia,
instead of using a global alphabetical order ?

Tom Bainbridge · « **Reply #23 on:** April 07, 2008, 06:01 AM »

mhch

when in rome do as rome does

whilst continuing to use english/local terms................................. just to keep the romans on their toes

problem is the romans learn quick.................. some of them use metric

mhch · « **Reply #24 on:** April 07, 2008, 07:51 AM »

Quote from: dirtydeeds on April 07, 2008, 06:01 AM

mhch

when in rome do as rome does

whilst continuing to use english/local terms................................. just to keep the romans on their toes

problem is the romans learn quick.................. some of them use metric

I quite like the wording, but I'm not sure of what it means.
Sorry

PS:
My mother family is French, although of Italian origin. I'll check her toes to see how she stands

My father was born German, and my wife is from Lancashire. So although I was born French, and
since I spent time in Edinburgh, West of London, Massachussett, Colorado, and California, I feel like
should tick more than one entry

mhch · « **Reply #25 on:** April 07, 2008, 08:00 AM »

BTW, I just made a suggestion. Sorry if it appeared to be a complaint !!

Tom Bainbridge · « **Reply #26 on:** April 07, 2008, 08:17 AM »

mhch, your a real mixed up kid

then i guess it all gets complicated

im english with a dash of scots and irish blood a couple of generations back

further back in time. my blue/grey eyes denotes possibley scandanavian and black tight curly hair which isnt balding, could suggest other influences

it didnt look like a complaint to me

mhch · « **Reply #27 on:** April 07, 2008, 08:25 AM »

mhch · « **Reply #28 on:** April 07, 2008, 08:31 AM »

My wife isn't bad either: mother from Wales, father US/Virginia of-greek family
who spent 2 years in the UK getting ready for the invasion ...guess what happened

Frank Pellow · « **Reply #29 on:** April 07, 2008, 09:15 AM »

'mhch' I like your summary.

But, I won't help you make it balance.

Ned · « **Reply #30 on:** April 07, 2008, 09:48 AM »

You may be interested in this thread:

Identify Country of Origin, More Festool International

I stand by the opinion I offered there.

Ned

Forrest Anderson · « **Reply #31 on:** April 07, 2008, 01:26 PM »

Quote from: mhch on April 07, 2008, 08:25 AM

Well here is a summary by April 7, 2008...

Total Voters: 246 248 what's wrong ??

It seems that the forum software can't add up properly, and loses two votes.

After copying and pasting into Excel, I reckon your 248 figure is correct, although I see that an extra member from the US has voted since you did your breakdown, making the current total 249, whereas the poll says the total is currently 247.

Forrest

mhch · « **Reply #32 on:** April 07, 2008, 01:29 PM »

Yep, I came up to the same conclusion, but I kept it quiet !!!
No software ever exists without bugs. Note: plural

shodan · « **Reply #33 on:** April 07, 2008, 03:54 PM »

Hi all !
special credits here to Mhch who really moved me to boost up the french score to the incredible account of 4.

Shodan,

Fred West · « **Reply #34 on:** April 07, 2008, 03:56 PM »

Shodan, welcome and thanks to mhch for drafting a new recruit.

Fred

mhch · « **Reply #35 on:** April 07, 2008, 07:25 PM »

Quote from: Fred West on April 07, 2008, 03:56 PM

Shodan, welcome and thanks to mhch for drafting a new recruit. Fred

I did post a note on the www.cyberbricoleur.com French forum as a reminder.
I read a number of Festool related threads in it, a small scale version of our MFT mods,
boom arms, homemade MFT, etc ... discussions, and I'm pretty sure the folks behind
them access the FOG but do not know of this poll. Language could be an issue for sure
(I know I'm an exception to be a French who speaks more English than French ....)

We'll see the results soon.

Omer · « **Reply #36 on:** April 08, 2008, 11:16 AM »

Hi !!!!!
There is a fistfull of frenchies here !

This is Omer's salutations , from France too...

mhch · « **Reply #37 on:** April 08, 2008, 11:20 AM »

Omer, did you tick the France entry ? (d?sol? de communiquer en
langue estrang?re)

Omer · « **Reply #38 on:** April 08, 2008, 04:23 PM »

Oups! Now it's OK...

shodan · « **Reply #39 on:** April 08, 2008, 05:18 PM »

Omer, mhch : nice to meet you both in this lair !

Fred : thanks for the warm welcome. Seems a pretty cosy place ;-)

mhch · « **Reply #40 on:** April 08, 2008, 08:57 PM »

More froggies on the FOG ... Super duper, the international representation gets enlarged !!

for a bit of history behind the stereotype, and a bit of fun

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PAL/is_498_158/ai_106652581
http://allaboutfrogs.org/weird/general/frenchfrogs.html

Eli · « **Reply #41 on:** April 08, 2008, 09:24 PM »

Bienvenue les grenouilles!

mhch · « **Reply #42 on:** April 08, 2008, 09:39 PM »

That's right, Eli is a hopper specialist

Eli · « **Reply #43 on:** April 09, 2008, 01:22 AM »

Ayuh, been ta France.

mhch · « **Reply #44 on:** April 09, 2008, 06:21 PM »

You are welcome to visit again, and I'll be pleased to help anyone planning
a trip in case of a need.

6 frogs now .... I knew they were visiting (from my reading other French forums),
but did not dare to tick the poll, they needed a tick in the h...e to do so.

Eli · « **Reply #45 on:** April 09, 2008, 06:41 PM »

I'm about as far away from France as I could be now. Don't know when I'll get back there. I guess I should add, "cain't get there from here".

Fred West · « **Reply #46 on:** April 09, 2008, 06:44 PM »

Eli, just not right using a Maine or New Hampshire saying in Australia to a Frenchman.

Fred

mhch · « **Reply #47 on:** April 09, 2008, 07:05 PM »

It's true i did not get it, but i'll ask my British wife when she is awake
too morrow morning. She can even ask a relative in N.Z for
extra help (he used to be a light keeper .... interesting).

Eli · « **Reply #48 on:** April 10, 2008, 02:22 AM »

mhch-
if you went for a drive "down east", in the Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, even some areas of Massachusetts or NY state, and you stopped to ask a farmer or country boy for directions to a certain place, he would either say, "take a left up the road a piece where the Johnson's barn burned down", or he'd say "Can't get there from here", which means you're on the wrong road entirely, you're a flatlander idiot, and your passenger rear tire is missing a snow chain.....

mhch · « **Reply #49 on:** April 10, 2008, 03:13 AM »

I drove once from Mass thru New Hampshire to Vermont, and back, but I
did not interview farmers, and that was in July ... so it seems I missed most of the interesting bits

My memories from Vermont: looks like Switzerland to me ?

Eli · « **Reply #50 on:** April 10, 2008, 05:40 AM »

I've got it the other way round. Everything looks like Vermont to me.

mhch · « **Reply #51 on:** April 10, 2008, 06:09 AM »

Even Autralia ?

mhch · « **Reply #52 on:** May 31, 2008, 02:09 AM »

It seems there is no way for a member to find who are all the other members of the same country.

jonny round boy · « **Reply #53 on:** May 31, 2008, 08:32 AM »

Quote from: mhch on May 31, 2008, 02:09 AM

It seems there is no way for a member to find who are all the other members of the same country.

Good point!

Matthew,

Is there a way of adding a drop-down to the 'profile' where members can state their country? Then in the 'members' page you could search by country? Obviously, there's already a 'location' heading in the profile, but since it's free text it's not searchable.

I seem to remember we've had this discussion before....

Matthew Schenker · « **Reply #54 on:** May 31, 2008, 09:33 AM »

Quote from: jonny round boy on May 31, 2008, 08:32 AM

Quote from: mhch on May 31, 2008, 02:09 AM

It seems there is no way for a member to find who are all the other members of the same country.

Good point!

Matthew,

Is there a way of adding a drop-down to the 'profile' where members can state their country? Then in the 'members' page you could search by country? Obviously, there's already a 'location' heading in the profile, but since it's free text it's not searchable.

I seem to remember we've had this discussion before....

The forum software is about to get a major update (for those of you who are techies out there, we're running version 1.1.5, and the update is 2.0). In the new version, there is a system for adding all kinds of fields to members' profiles, and one of those is a "country field." It will be required on registration to designate your country, and everyone who is already registered will be asked to add that information to their profiles.

So, yes, that will happen.

There are lots of other improvements in the new SMF version that people will be very happy about! I'll keep everyone posted on the update, which should be happening soon.

Matthew

jobsworth · « **Reply #55 on:** August 23, 2014, 03:57 AM »

I didnt know where to say I was from. I am a American on a 3 year temp tour of the UK.

jonny round boy · « **Reply #56 on:** August 23, 2014, 04:20 AM »

Quote from: jobsworth on August 23, 2014, 03:57 AM

I didnt know where to say I was from. I am a American on a 3 year temp tour of the UK.

Well it's been 6 years mate, so you don't need to rush into a decision!

jobsworth · « **Reply #57 on:** November 09, 2014, 07:10 AM »

JRB,

Ya know Im a little slow at decision making . Maybe Ill wait till I rotate back then say Im from Tx formerly of UK and prior to that SoCal

Alex · « **Reply #58 on:** November 09, 2014, 08:45 AM »

The reason to identify someones' location is to best help them with advice. And that can depend on which country you're in, as it means you have a different HQ to deal with, a different attitude, different warranty conditions and a different set of tools that are available to you.

So if you're in the UK, no matter what nationality you are, just say UK. And the forum gives you the possibilty to be more specific and for instance enter: "American in the UK".

hemdale · « **Reply #59 on:** January 03, 2015, 10:28 AM »

Et hop, encore un Frenchie !

birchwoodwerks · « **Reply #60 on:** September 29, 2015, 10:47 AM »

Just throwing this out there...We have SOOOO many people from the US...Maybe we could get more of the tools...

Grakat · « **Reply #61 on:** January 16, 2016, 02:30 AM »

Sydney, Australia for me. Looks like there are a few of us.

Regards
Graham