The Embassy

3:36 AM

@Gagravarr I'd rather just ask them again if they're good and relevant to you. Remember, seeding the site is something we try to avoid. If someone today arrived on Travel and asked what would be a stellar question here, that would probably be okay to send over.

Mark Mayo

7:58 AM

ok, @Gagravarr thanks for the nomination

am considering it :)

In other news, I just submitted the beta link to Hacker news, and about to send it to reddit's /r/iwantout subreddit. Expect some traffic.

:D

@Gagravarr I was wondering that too - the ones against Expats - I haven't heard a peep since the site launched

Gaël Laurans

@MarkMayo I was pretty strongly against expats, doesn't mean I want to see it fail or won't respect the rules on travel

I just think all this talk about what's on-topic or off-topic, splitting hair about where travel stops and the whole trouble of getting a new site off the ground were entirely unecessary

Mark Mayo

@GaëlLaurans we're here to make sure it succeeds, it's not just because it's sort of like travel. Once it's established, we can return to our happy community, or embrace being a part of two distinct communities :)

oh you're in here.

it happens on every new site - travel, english, cooking = needs to be strict early on, or it doesn't get a focus

and then yo uget what happened to astronomy - too wide ranging mess, which didn't have a direction and it flopped

although I gather a new reincarnation is up now

Gaël Laurans

Don't know about astronomy, I have seen many sites struggle (and a few close entirely) because of a lack of activity, I tend to think this is the more pressing issue rather than closing the odd question about being covered during a trip

Mark Mayo

it's in the first week, over half of the commiters did sign up already, which is a good sign

travel was much slower to get up at this point, from memory

Gaël Laurans

Yes, things are going much better than I expected to be honest

How does this “fulfilled commitment” thing work?

Mark Mayo

8:13 AM

where are you, btw?

Gaël Laurans

Where? In the world?

Mark Mayo

I've been wondering that myself

I thought you had to ask 5 questions to fulfill

Gaël Laurans

I am in the Netherlands

Mark Mayo

but some have done that already

ah right

maybe it only awards 'fulfillment' at the end of the beta (@TimPost?)

I'm in Melbourne, at present

Gaël Laurans

hum “Once you've fulfilled your commitment on a new site by asking and answering a few questions, you'll be able to commit to another site. If you are very active, you may be able to re-use your commitment as soon as the second day of public beta.”

From area51.stackexchange.com/faq

Mark Mayo

8:16 AM

interesting

In two years of beta, Travel had 165 committed members sign up.

Expats has had 148 already

good start!

Dirty-flow

damn I wrote an answer to my own question, but when I posted it, I see only the question

Mark Mayo

weird

If anyone has reddit accounts, the link to expats has been posted on /r/IWantOut

and...I've gotten a bite on hackernews. traffic incoming.

Dirty-flow

can you post a link to the hackernews?

Gaël Laurans

Weren't you at some point? (mod on travel)

Mark Mayo

yeah, from the first month, up until about a year ago

news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7427283

but it's not gotten much traction

so for kicks I posted one of the questions (news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7427310) and it's gotten more. oddly, because immediately someone asked why it was on hackernews, and another person replied pointing out that it's interesting there's now an expats.SE, yet it's had more upvotes than the actual link about expats!

sweet, that second comment got upvoted, so it's now the first thing people see once clicking the post

@Dirty-flow 7 votes, and the question just gained a few hundred more views, and I got an announcer badge. Great start :D

Dirty-flow

8:37 AM

you and your announcer badges...

mark the spammer :D

Mark Mayo

I'm going for that gold ;)

Dirty-flow

I'm after the steward badge ;)

Mark Mayo

hmm, you'll usually win to that one

but I reckon I could get a different gold before that

Dirty-flow

for sure

Mark Mayo

Copy Editor, for example

Dirty-flow

8:40 AM

or electorate

Mark Mayo

oh true

Dirty-flow

fanatic is also easy

Mark Mayo

hooray!

@Skivvz has asked a question!

(He was the original creator of the Expats proposal)

Question is now on front page of hackernews :P

Dirty-flow

#24 not bad

Mark Mayo

Booster badge!

#16 now

Dirty-flow

8:44 AM

I hate you, my links on hackernews never attract attention

Mark Mayo

lol

Gaël Laurans

I got electorate on several sites but there aren't that many questions yet

DaveDev

Mi Mark

Mark Mayo

I'd suggest the question on the guy being not allowed into the states because of being kicked out the UK

you want something relevant and controversial, and ideally US + crime/police centric for front page

DaveDev

Thanks for answer to my question RE getting a job in Oz

Mark Mayo

8:46 AM

sadly they're that predictable sometimes :P

@DaveDev hey, no worries!

What city are you aiming for

DaveDev

Melbourne

Mark Mayo

5

Q: Will my past removal from UK affect my ability to join my family in USA?

I am originally from Pakistan, I was living in UK on student visa tier 4 and wasn't allowed to work on my visa. I had 16 months of visa left on my passport when I got caught by UKBA while working illegally, I am extremely ashamed for committing this massive mistake for which I apologize, now I s...

usa uk

DaveDev

it's meant to be good for families with a reasonable climate

Mark Mayo

it's on the stackexchange hotlist already

DaveDev

I'm coming from Ireland so I'd melt anywhere else!

Mark Mayo

8:47 AM

@DaveDev hi from sunny Melbourne :D

DaveDev

:-)

Mark Mayo

Lol, St Kilda (beach suburb) is full of Irish :)

Gagravarr

melbourne might be a bit hot for you ;-) there's always tazzie!

DaveDev

I love the Irish, but I'd like to keep a relative distance when I go to a new place, if you know what I mean - nothing worse for me than going on a holiday and spending it in a local Irish bar

!!

Mark Mayo

yeah, totally

DaveDev

8:48 AM

But I'm wondering, how did you get a job? Did you go there first or find one before you went?

Did you get a reception from recruiters?

Mark Mayo

I rocked up first

I've done that a lot in the past few years

DaveDev

Is it way too early for me to be trying to contact anyone, if I'll be going in October?

Mark Mayo

but I learned it in London

My strategy is probably ugly

basically apply for anything on job sites that is even semi-close to what I do

Gagravarr

3-4 months is probably about right

Mark Mayo

that gets you onto the radar of a LOT of recruiters really fast

and inevitably they call me up about a job that they have that isn't yet advertised anywhere

My last 5-6 contracts, only one was actually advertised on a job site

DaveDev

8:50 AM

Ah yes, I get you! Not a bad idea.

Mark Mayo

out of London, Christchurch, Vancouver and now Melbourne

DaveDev

So you're working/travelling around the world? Sounds awesome. I should have done that years ago. Now I've got a missus and kids, so that's a no-go! We're going to move and settle there.

Mark Mayo

yeah, the downside of it is not settling long enough for a missus yet ;)

I can suggest a fantastic IT recruiter here if you like

Irish woman, actually :)

DaveDev

Yes, please do!

Mark Mayo

er, anyone know the policy on posting email addresses in chat rooms?

Well the company is ECareers

and I'll post the email, then delete the post in a short while

Let me know when you've copied that

DaveDev

8:54 AM

Got it, thanks!

I'll fire off an email

Dirty-flow

@GaëlLaurans why don't you nominate yourself for a mod?

DaveDev

Do you want me to mention you?

Gaël Laurans

I don't particularly want to be one

And that wouldn't solve the issue I raised as I am also from travel.SE ;-)

Mark Mayo

@DaveDev yes please do. If you want to mention, something along the lines of 'Mark Mayo who you got a contract with Seek, suggested you'

Dirty-flow

ok, then nominate another user, just like @MarkMayo did

Mark Mayo

8:56 AM

@GaëlLaurans who are you on travel

I am Annoyed

ahh

I definitely will.

was wondering why your travel account isn't linked to your other ones

DaveDev

My travel account?

Mark Mayo

8:56 AM

@DaveDev and if you want to email me, check marksmayo.com - there's a contact form and I'll get back to you, if you have any questions

Gaël Laurans

I created my travel account to complain about one of jwenting xenobphobic rants and I didn't plan on staying there

Mark Mayo

@DaveDev sorry that was for @GaëlLaurans (the travel account line)

@DaveDev of course, any other expat questions are welcome on this site too ;)

@Dirty-flow #10 now!

Tim Post

@MarkMayo Yeah, it awards once you've fulfilled the commitment (participated enough)

Gaël Laurans

@Dirty-flow Yes, it's an idea

Mark Mayo

@TimPost what's 'enough'? (curious)

Dirty-flow

8:58 AM

@MarkMayo I think it's a secret

DaveDev

cool. Sometimes you can get a bit of a bonus for referring people, so that's handy when dealing with recruiters. I've copied your suggestion in to a draft mail. Looking at your site, it seems you're having an awesome adventure!

Tim Post

Somewhere near-ish to ~10 posts or so, I don't think we make the actual number public, but it's no closely guarded secret either as folks have figured it out in the past

Mark Mayo

@DaveDev yeah the blog is behind, there was a lack of internet in the stans, and then I sort of didn't enjoy updating it as much when I wasn't actually travelling

but looking to go travelling again in July, so it may be back in action then :)

@TimPost fair enough

@Dirty-flow only one post has >80 views. It currently has 680, and rising.

Tim Post

It's also behind, I think that particular event runs weekly to be honest, so you might well have enough now and just need to wait.

Mark Mayo

Oh good grief, #3 on HN

Gaël Laurans

9:01 AM

@MarkMayo Were you the one who asked about countries with no restrictions on passports expiring soon?

Mark Mayo

@TimPost no worries, it'll happen eventually

@GaëlLaurans something along those lines - yeah, for NZ passports

DaveDev

Ok.. I'm going to get off this thing now. I'm in work and the boss is due to come in any minute, and it's not a good idea for me to be chatting here when he pops around! Thanks Mark and the rest of you for helping. I'll probably be around again with a bunch more questions!

Gaël Laurans

And? How does it look like? Are there a lot of possibilities?

Dirty-flow

@MarkMayo maybe you want to confirm that you accept the nomination by writing a comment, not everyone is reading the chat logs

Mark Mayo

No worries, good luck with the planning and job hunting!

@Dirty-flow I've not accepted it yet

still debating it

Right, gotta go meet a friend in town. chat later folks, looks like the HN question is really taking off now

Dirty-flow

9:07 AM

c ya

Dirty-flow

10:45 AM

hmm I think that

1

Q: UK provisional driver's license without sending passport by post

I am looking to obtain a provisional driver's license in the UK, so I can start taking lessons. All the forms and documentations indicate that they need to be mailed to Swansea along with your original identification. I only have a full valid passport as identification, from a different EU memb...

uk eu-citizens

is duplicate of

8

Q: Is there a faster way of renewing my driver license?

I discovered that my Italian drivers license has expired. I need to renew it but I'm an expat in the UK: The Italian Driver License agency won't touch my license with a 10-foot-pole The English DVLA says they can give me a UK license (yay!) but it will take 4 weeks and they want the only copy...

united-kingdom driving-license italy

but only the second one got answers

Gaël Laurans

In fact they face the same problem but they don't realize it

One has a license, wants to exchange it, the other want to pass the exam in the UK

If I needed a provisional license, I wouldn't look for questions about exchanging/renewing foreign licenses either

It's a completely different situation

Dirty-flow

when I see such questions I ask myself if I'm really ready to be a mod

@MarkMayo your (first) link to expats.se on hackernews is now #9

Gaël Laurans

Well, I don't think you need to do much, just wait to see what people think

Dirty-flow

and we're getting many new users

Gaël Laurans

The threshold for voting is low, you can wait and see

I think spam and the like are the most pressing issue for mods

Dirty-flow

10:55 AM

I think the spam will not be a problem at the beginning

probably it will take months to become a spam target

btw we have our first quesiton on the hot list :)

Gaël Laurans

11:10 AM

I lost my edit rights with the upgrade to public beta, will have to spam the review queue…

Dirty-flow

me too

but you're very close to 1k reputation

Mark Mayo

11:37 AM

@Dirty-flow oh wow, here we go

Traffic!

oh geez, so much ... junk

reviewing and editing as fast as I can

Dirty-flow

probably we entered the public beta a little too early as we don't have any users with >1k. rep

Mark Mayo

normally wouldn't matter too much, just not usually this much traffic this fast

Dirty-flow

hopefully someone from SE-team can review the suggested edits

Mark Mayo

11:55 AM

damn, one of our users is just 29 short of 1000

Gaël Laurans

@MarkMayo Who is that? I am not seeing the same list apparently

Dirty-flow

expatriates.stackexchange.com/…

Gaël Laurans

ah, yes, I had the reputation for this month only

Dirty-flow

Thank you for reviewing 20 first posts today; come back in 11 hours to continue reviewing.
-> never reached the limit on travel.se

Mark Mayo

lol

maybe now we can do some!

just had an edit approved, Tim must be online

remember earlier when only 1 question had more than 80 views? Now 9 do

Dirty-flow

12:07 PM

my question is still on the hot list, 203 views now

Mark Mayo

travel has 3 on the hotlist

25% new users in the last 3 hours

Dirty-flow

lunch time, brb

Gaël Laurans

12:38 PM

I was about to put SztupY over 1000 but I have no votes left :-(

Gagravarr

how many SE employees do we have on the site? is it just Tim and Anna Lear?

Mark Mayo

as far as I know

Gagravarr

I wonder if we need to go on meta.se and ask for a few more volunteers, at least for a few days until we get enough 1k and 2k users

Mark Mayo

12:53 PM

I think as it moves off hacker news, it'll slow down again

and a bunch of us are 1-2 days from 1k

it's just like the first day, really, where there were a ton of crazy questions

@TimPost but if you're around, we could use you about now!! ;)

Tim Post

I IS HERE!

Mark Mayo

Currently SIX expat questions on the hot list!

Tim Post

BOOYEAH!

Mark Mayo

Tim, we've had a TON of traffic in the past 4 hours

if you have some editing approval time, that'd be handy ;)

Tim Post

I'm on it.

Mark Mayo

1:01 PM

Thanks!

Tim Post

Edit queue cleared, I'll check it every hour

Though, with this traffic, probably some privileges going to rain down today

Mark Mayo

hopefully!

Tim Post

I knew this was going to take off quickly after switching to public beta, that's why I put out the call for mods early

Mark Mayo

yeah, it's on the front page of hacker news at present

Dirty-flow

1:16 PM

@MarkMayo I just saw that you accepted the nomination, and I think it's the right decision - it's not fair to cause so much traffic and let the other users deal with it ;)

3

Mark Mayo

haha

Tim Post

1:40 PM

Just missing Reddit

Mark Mayo

oh it's there

reddit.com/r/iwantout

but not as much interest

and has two downvotes >:(

SztupY

It seems I've completely missed the fact that we have a chat site :(

Mark Mayo

@SztupY was wondering if you'd make it in here!

where abouts are you based?

SztupY

you mean?

Mark Mayo

1:55 PM

as in where are you right now?

SztupY

London

Mark Mayo

ah nice. Well we hit a bit of traffic on hacker news earlier, so lots of new questions for ya ;)

looks like you'll hit 1000 today!

SztupY

Hope so

Also did some advertising on social networks since we're public

Mark Mayo

sweet!

50% new users in last 5 hours

Tim Post

I think we did a really good job making this site welcoming with very little 'fuzzy' criteria on what and who can ask.

It's not a free for all, but you'll probably have a good experience asking a question here if it's really about something that's complicated by you not being a citizen of the country in which you reside.

Mark Mayo

2:03 PM

indeed!

SztupY

I'm also curious what new types of questions we'll get

As the site did slow down a bit in the last 2days

Mark Mayo

always slows down after the initial committers flood

then after a few more questions, google organic traffic starts to kick in a bit more

Tim Post

@SztupY Didn't really slow down in participation, just questions. We still saw answers, a lot of tag tweaking, edits, meta picked up a bit. It's pretty natural for that to happen a few days before something goes public. We had a heck of a private beta, blew the doors off the criteria to go forward in the second or third day.

It also helps that a less than trivial number of people working here are also expats :P

Mark Mayo

haha

SztupY

@TimPost, yes I meant about the questions

Mark Mayo

2:09 PM

@TimPost how does one get working at SE as an expat traveller like yourself?

Tim Post

@MarkMayo I just applied. I'd been an elected Stack Overflow mod for a couple of years, very active and vocal in how the network was coming together, and I'd been around since just after SO opened to the public.

Mark Mayo

nice!

Tim Post

Joining the community team was something that would require almost no training for me, I just took on a lot of responsibility, and got more diamonds.

My last job in software left a really sour taste in my mouth, so I was looking for something different.

Mark Mayo

yeah, I can understand that

my last three contracts I've been going 'just one more, see if it gets better'

then this one it actually did, a bit

but I'll likely be finishing that up in June/July then doing some more travel

Otavio Macedo

@TimPost I know that feeling.

SztupY

2:16 PM

How did you guys start this whole travel/expat thing? I mean at one time you just said to yourself: I'm going to travel, and the next time you were like: I'm going to settle here for a while?

Mark Mayo

no, sort of by accident @SztupY

I needed out of NZ for a bit, and did the OE (Overseas Experience) thing back in 2007 - went to London for 2 years like so many other Kiwis, Aussies and Saffas

then I got the travel bug, got a new Ancestry visa

then did several months in south america, got the long term travel bug

few more months contracting in London, then backpacked overland to Mongolia

by then I wanted something different, so back to NZ for 6 months, got a visa, moved to Canada

got a contract there, worked for the 1 year visa, did 6 weeks travelling, then in last week, while in DC, decided on Melbourne

Dirty-flow

I went to Germany to study and decided to stay here... I don't know for how long...

Mark Mayo

so flew here

and now living in Melbourne....for the next few months :D

@Dirty-flow - Gold :D

Publicist badge

Tim Post

I started a proposal for expats back in 2010, it fizzled out, not a lot of interest.

Dirty-flow

Have I already said today, that I hate you

Mark Mayo

2:24 PM

;)

Tim Post

The last few years have seen a lot more globe hopping, so - it popped. This is exactly the site I wish I had in 2005, boy is it.

(10 years living abroad for me now)

Mark Mayo

@TimPost haha, yeah sometimes you need the sweet spot of culture, internet and luck

Tim Post

And our first spammer has been destroyed.

SztupY

1k+

3

Tim Post

Dirty-flow

2:32 PM

@SztupY nice, however if you want more privileges you can nominate yourself for a mod :)

Karlson

@SztupY Congrats. You're the first one to make it. :)

Mark Mayo

1

Q: How to deal with traffic offences in United Kingdom?

I know in the United Kingdom you can fines issued by the Traffic Police Department, for speeding, illegal parking (on public roads) and also you can get fine "Invoices" from private companies that monitor parkings, mostly for example. What are my rights between the two types of fines? As in t...

united-kingdom driving

another example of a question that really isn't an expat question

Dirty-flow

the only expat question is : Can i get points on a non uk license?

Dirty-flow

2:52 PM

>200 questions! wow!

Mark Mayo

so earlier when we had 1 question with more than 80 views?

we now have 17

and 2 with over 500

and 23 posts with a score of 10+

great day!

but it's now 2am, so I must sleep. there's that work thing I have in the morning.

Karlson

Work is overrated.

So is sleep. :)

Dirty-flow

good night Mark

Karlson

G'night

Tim Post

0

Q: What should our help center 'on topic' text be?

We're closing questions and pointing folks to the help center to see what kind of topics they can ask about, but that page is currently profoundly unhelpful. Here's my first stab at what should go as the middle paragraph with a bullet list, please vet this as soon as possible so that I can get i...

discussion

Can I please get the bat signal on that ^^^^ we need text in there pronto

2

I don't want to feature it as we're currently seeing a whole bunch of users

SztupY

3:02 PM

it might not contain everything but it's unlimited times better than the current one

Tim Post

+1 on that, going to get it ready to post now and wait about an hour, if nothing drastic is suggested out it goes.

Actually, saved it - can always edit, at least it's in place. I closed 2 questions about 30 minutes ago.

Dirty-flow

3:31 PM

1

A: Who should the moderators be?

I will throw myself into the moderator ring in response to wanting someone who is not actively part of Travel.SE. I am pretty active on TeX.SE and use it as a resource to ask questions and learn and answering when I can. I am also active on Academia.SE where I try and help people find the informa...

now we have the first self and non-travel.se nomination :)

Tim Post

Could start a new band .. The traveling moderators

(I'll get my coat)

Gagravarr

a coat, in Manilla?!? surely it's much too hot there.... ;-)

Dirty-flow

4:07 PM

and a 4th mod candidate :)

Tim Post

4:21 PM

@MarkMayo You still around?

Gagravarr

in theory he has been asleep for a few hours, but who knows when it comes to Mark!

Tim Post

I'd like to see the manager, there's not enough Mayo on my site.

7

Gagravarr

4:38 PM

Tim, is someone going to cover the mod queue when you head to bed, which I guess will be soon?

Tim Post

@Gagravarr The rest of the community team. I may appoint mods as early as tomorrow.

Gagravarr

would that be a new record?

Tim Post

Yep.

Robert Cartaino will check on things periodically to see if something needs immediate attention, otherwise I can handle whatever is in the queue in about 8 - 9 hours. Close votes, at this early stage, is something I'd love to see the community do without me stepping in, but I have on a few occasions so far.

Gagravarr

ta. have a good rest!

Karlson

5:47 PM

WooooooooHoooooooo!!!!!!! I am gaining on @SztupY :)

I think we need to have someone from the Americas as a moderator. Just to be able to cover timezones...

SztupY

6:17 PM

Eeek, I have to do something! (like go to sleep :D )

Gagravarr

do we have any americans who haven't run off elsewhere?

Karlson

@Gagravarr There are a few.

Gaël Laurans

8:00 PM

@Gagravarr Have you ever applied for a permit for a non-EU family member?

I am asking because I don't know exactly how it works in the UK but in France if you have a problem with an administrative decision, you get a chance to send them a letter (called a “recours gracieux”), laying out your case and if you have good (legal) arguments it's often enough to make them back down without actually going to court

I wonder if that would apply to your scenario

(Usually, you should always start a formal complaint as well, to make sure the decision is suspended in the meantime)

Gagravarr

10:41 PM

I'm thinking of the case of when you + family member just arrive at the UK border

I haven't done it, but a friend of mine (not on here) is seriously considering it

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