I love you guys. I've learned a lot from reading everyone's posts on this thread and other threads in the Lounge.
I think the folks who operate and host Merb (and its cousins) do it as a labor of love. As I understand it, the cost of sponsorship is minimal (e.g., a couple of hundreds a month), compared to the high costs of maintaining secured servers; the Mods probably work as volunteers. Regardless, I don't believe Merb is making money like gangbusters (like Google).
I agree, Brittany should receive prompt responses to her questions as a sponsor. Guru has a good suggestion -- Brittany and others like her can reach out to some of the senior Merbites for assistance with helping to translate for her. I realize as a self-employed business lady, for Brittany and other Independents, every expense is a huge deal. And I wish her well in her endeavors. I consider escort work as legitimate as legal work, regardless of what the current law mandates or societal norms. The ladies are good people; and on one is any better or worse than them; we are all human beings -- and Life is a Bitch!
(Here is how Google Translate "translated" what I wrote: Je suis d'accord, Brittany devrait recevoir des réponses rapides à ses questions en tant que sponsor. Gourou a une bonne suggestion - Bretagne et d'autres comme elle peuvent se joindre à certains des Merbites supérieurs pour obtenir de l'aide pour traduire pour elle. Je me rend compte en tant que femme d'affaires autonome, chaque dépense est une affaire énorme. Et je le souhaite bien dans ses efforts. Je considère que le travail d'escorte est aussi légitime que le travail légal, peu importe ce que la loi actuelle impose ou les normes de la société.)
I recently saw a piece on Deutsche Welle (I find the German language exquisite and wish I could speak it): a sizable number of Brits have moved to various towns in France because they love the French culture and language. Many of them vowed that they will never return to their motherland -- the UK -- especially after the Brexite vote. Many said they will be applying for French citizenship. Even the "truest" Anglophiles (those born and raised in the UK and whose ancestor roots in the UK go back centuries) embrace the French culture and language. So, I believe the French culture and language will survive and continue to thrive globally, in France and Quebec for certain. But Merb likely do not have the staff to handle matters that require French speaking staff to resolve.
As for Napoleon Bonaparte, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander the Great, and others who purportedly spread their seeds in many territories, I don't know that they engaged (much) in DATY because of hygienic reasons, taboos and other social norms at the time. As for me, I'm praying for my penis to return to normal after it was affected by the poisons in the blowfish sushi and sashimi I inadvertently consumed. I was in a coma for several days. My urologist told me it will be a few more weeks before my Mr. Junior, which collapsed, can engage in any sexual activity -- it has to heal and get stronger
Life is too short my dear friends. It's good that we have this forum to express our views and share our experiences. The Merb community is a very good community with great people. I only able to join the discussion group now and then because of my extremely low energy level and some residual paralysis.
