🎓🎓 PPG University - Interview with Etienne 🤵‍♂️

Bonjour mister @Etienne!! I have a question and sorry if it is a really dumb question: why is the name of PPG with the word gate in it? So what does it mean? Do you mean gate like in front of your house and penpals come through a gate? Or is it something else? 🙄🙄

This is probably a very stupid question but i think i am missing smt about it. 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

Yes exactly, it's meant to represent the entrance to the world of penpals. In hindsight I should have probably picked a different name, but it's okay 😛

Yes exactly, it's meant to represent the entrance to the world of penpals. In hindsight I should have probably picked a different name, but it's okay 😛

I actually like the name and i am used to it now. So i think it is a good name and i like what it means!! 🙂

Bonjour monsieur @Etienne!! I hope everything is très bien (i found out that it almost rhymes with etienne)!!! 😛 I saw on forums in another language that they are translated. For example French and Italian posts are now in English! 🙂 Is that an update? And if yes i have a question: if for example there is a forum in Italian and it is translated in English. And i post a comment in English. Is that translated for others in Italian? 🙄🙄 And if i write a post in English and i write for example French in it too, are the French parts translated? Or do i make the translator très confused? 😛 I also wanted to write Dutch in this comment for fun but in that case most will not understand it and will look like 😵‍💫😵😵‍💫 Merci beaucoup!! 😊🙏

I have some questions:

1. Why did you make the donate thing?

2. You make a lot of fun updates, and i like them, but why do you keep on making them if you say yourself that it requires a lot of work to make them?

3. Can you send the old version of PPG (mentiont earlyer with a facebook link) in private chat to me? I cant open it (no idea ehy) but i'd like to see the classical PPG version 😚

I saw on forums in another language that they are translated. For example French and Italian posts are now in English! 🙂 Is that an update?

Yes! Thank you for noticing. Any post that isn't in English, and isn't super short, should be translated to English to those who aren't fluent in that language (based on their profile page languages).

It only works from non-English to English, because giving the ability to translate any post to any language would get very expensive very quickly (even if it would be nice).

If a post contains multiple languages, it will stay as is if the predominant language is English. Otherwise, it will be translated.

Some people like to sometimes write in German, Italian or Chinese, that's how I got the idea to implement this to help bridge the gap a little bit.

I have some questions:

1. Why did you make the donate thing?

The donation thing has always been there. It's a concrete way to show appreciation to the project, and any fund collected directly helps toward improving the community and/or with hosting expenses.

2. You make a lot of fun updates, and i like them, but why do you keep on making them if you say yourself that it requires a lot of work to make them?

Because I like taking care of the community, I try my best so people like it and hopefully it grows. Yes it's very time consuming but having people say they like it (like you just did!) is what gives me motivation to continue. If all I ever got were complaints, I would have definitely stopped long ago. There's nothing more infuriating than people feeling the need to trash talk stuff they get for free.

3. Can you send the old version of PPG (mentiont earlyer with a facebook link) in private chat to me? I cant open it (no idea ehy) but i'd like to see the classical PPG version 😚

Yes you're right the link seems to have expired. The following is the first version (2008 to 2009 or so). The thumbnail is tiny but it's all I could find.

This is "version 2" (2010 to 2016 or so). Some parts are broken but you get the idea:

From 2017 on, the overall vibe is very similar to what it is today

Thank you @Etienne 😊 your answers are very clear 🙂

(Andi like the PPG Today better then the classical PPG 😉)

Yes! Thank you for noticing. Any post that isn't in English, and isn't super short, should be translated to English to those who aren't fluent in that language (based on their profile page languages).

It only works from non-English to English, because giving the ability to translate any post to any language would get very expensive very quickly (even if it would be nice).

If a post contains multiple languages, it will stay as is if the predominant language is English. Otherwise, it will be translated.

Some people like to sometimes write in German, Italian or Chinese, that's how I got the idea to implement this to help bridge the gap a little bit.

The donation thing has always been there. It's a concrete way to show appreciation to the project, and any fund collected directly helps toward improving the community and/or with hosting expenses.

Because I like taking care of the community, I try my best so people like it and hopefully it grows. Yes it's very time consuming but having people say they like it (like you just did!) is what gives me motivation to continue. If all I ever got were complaints, I would have definitely stopped long ago. There's nothing more infuriating than people feeling the need to trash talk stuff they get for free.

Yes you're right the link seems to have expired. The following is the first version (2008 to 2009 or so). The thumbnail is tiny but it's all I could find.

📸️

This is "version 2" (2010 to 2016 or so). Some parts are broken but you get the idea:

📸️

From 2017 on, the overall vibe is very similar to what it is today

That is really cool!! It is nice bc now all language forums are for everybody. Or at least if it is a PPG language right. So not maybe EVERY language in the world but still a LOTTT!! 😛 😛

And i like how PPG looks now MUCHHH better than in the past from the photos. But maybe in 20 years it looks really different again. 🙂

The trash talk for free stuff does not happen a lot here i think. At least not on the forum. But we often sell stuff that we dont use for 0 euros on Marktplaats. That is like Vinted but for any kind of thing. And when we get problems with people who complain it is normally when we give it away for free!!!!! I still dont understand that but it happened more than once. 🙄🙄😬

Yes! Thank you for noticing. Any post that isn't in English, and isn't super short, should be translated to English to those who aren't fluent in that language (based on their profile page languages).

It only works from non-English to English, because giving the ability to translate any post to any language would get very expensive very quickly (even if it would be nice).

If a post contains multiple languages, it will stay as is if the predominant language is English. Otherwise, it will be translated.

Some people like to sometimes write in German, Italian or Chinese, that's how I got the idea to implement this to help bridge the gap a little bit.

The donation thing has always been there. It's a concrete way to show appreciation to the project, and any fund collected directly helps toward improving the community and/or with hosting expenses.

Because I like taking care of the community, I try my best so people like it and hopefully it grows. Yes it's very time consuming but having people say they like it (like you just did!) is what gives me motivation to continue. If all I ever got were complaints, I would have definitely stopped long ago. There's nothing more infuriating than people feeling the need to trash talk stuff they get for free.

Yes you're right the link seems to have expired. The following is the first version (2008 to 2009 or so). The thumbnail is tiny but it's all I could find.

📸️

This is "version 2" (2010 to 2016 or so). Some parts are broken but you get the idea:

📸️

From 2017 on, the overall vibe is very similar to what it is today

I've been thinking a lot about Etienne lately. I wondered if he was happy in his everyday life. If he had friends. If he had secrets 😳🤔. Sometimes I didn't agree with some things he wrote or decided. But I always respected his role. I think Etienne is a great engineer 🏆. He's always a bit of a mysterious character 🧐. He gave us a wonderful gift: "penpal gate". I hope this project can give Etienne great satisfaction, even financial 💰💰💰💰💰💰💰🤣. I hope thousands of new users arrive. Goodnight Mr. President 🤵

Sometimes I didn't agree with some things he wrote or decided.

Would be nice to know what you're referring to. Every time I tried to fish for details so I can understand better, it seems that you have decided to ignore me for some reason. You may be more mysterious than I am 🧐. Thank you for your kind words, though, and for being part of the community.

what were the other pp sotes you joined @Etienne?

Would be nice to know what you're referring to. Every time I tried to fish for details so I can understand better, it seems that you have decided to ignore me for some reason. You may be more mysterious than I am 🧐. Thank you for your kind words, though, and for being part of the community.

🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐

I've been thinking a lot about Etienne lately. I wondered if he was happy in his everyday life. If he had friends. If he had secrets 😳🤔. Sometimes I didn't agree with some things he wrote or decided. But I always respected his role. I think Etienne is a great engineer 🏆. He's always a bit of a mysterious character 🧐. He gave us a wonderful gift: "penpal gate". I hope this project can give Etienne great satisfaction, even financial 💰💰💰💰💰💰💰🤣. I hope thousands of new users arrive. Goodnight Mr. President 🤵

I think that PPG is not earning money for @Etienne, but that he puts more money in PPG than he gets because almost everything is free. Maybe if all that money @Etienne kept himself instead of using it for PPG than he would be able to buy a big car or have a super nice vacation to somewhere!! 😛

Can I ask one more question: how much time in the week do you spend for PPG @Etienne? It is maybe not the same every week but about that number in a normal week? Merci beaucoup!! 🌈🌞🌈

I think that PPG is not earning money for @Etienne, but that he puts more money in PPG than he gets because almost everything is free. Maybe if all that money @Etienne kept himself instead of using it for PPG than he would be able to buy a big car or have a super nice vacation to somewhere!! 😛

Can I ask one more question: how much time in the week do you spend for PPG @Etienne? It is maybe not the same every week but about that number in a normal week? Merci beaucoup!! 🌈🌞🌈

🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏖️🏝️⛱️

@LandRoverDiscovery2 I remembering liking a site called Speak Mania but it closed many years ago.

I think that PPG is not earning money for @Etienne, but that he puts more money in PPG than he gets because almost everything is free. Maybe if all that money @Etienne kept himself instead of using it for PPG than he would be able to buy a big car or have a super nice vacation to somewhere!! 😛

Can I ask one more question: how much time in the week do you spend for PPG @Etienne? It is maybe not the same every week but about that number in a normal week? Merci beaucoup!! 🌈🌞🌈

Thankfully I don't need to use my personal money, advertising covers just enough. The day I have to pay to work will probably be the last day of my engagement 😛.

It's hard to gauge how much time I dedicate to PPG every week, but if I had to guess I'd say something like 5-10 hours a week on top of my regular job.

Bonjour monsieur @Etienne!! I hope everything is très bien!!! BUTTT i have 3 questions!!! 😛 😛

1️⃣ Can we maybe write in different colours the text on the forum? Bc that way it looks nicer and you can make it more personal too. 😇

2️⃣ The PPG blogs you can only see the list when you log out bc there is no tab when you are logged in. So maybe it is nice if there is a tab for it for members or is that a LOTTTT of work? Bc if that is the case i would not do it.

3️⃣ From this blog: https://penpal-gate.net/blog/top-20-weirdest-foods-from-around-the-world which 2 dishes do you think are the WORSTTTT!!!!!!! 😬😬😵😵‍💫

Thank you very much et merci beaucoup!! 🙏🙏😊🌈🌞

2️⃣ The PPG blogs you can only see the list when you log out bc there is no tab when you are logged in. So maybe it is nice if there is a tab for it for members or is that a LOTTTT of work? Bc if that is the case i would not do it.

@Yue_ scroll totally down your PPG page till cant go any further. Normally, even when your logged in, you can find the blogs there.

1️⃣ Can we maybe write in different colours the text on the forum? Bc that way it looks nicer and you can make it more personal too. 😇

No because it will look very messy if customization is too flexible (same reason other social networks don't allow colors)

2️⃣ The PPG blogs you can only see the list when you log out bc there is no tab when you are logged in. So maybe it is nice if there is a tab for it for members or is that a LOTTTT of work? Bc if that is the case i would not do it.

The blog will no longer be updated. It was an attempt to improve ranking on Google but it didn't yield any meaningful results therefore it will be discontinued.

3️⃣ From this blog: https://penpal-gate.net/blog/top-20-weirdest-foods-from-around-the-world which 2 dishes do you think are the WORSTTTT!!!!!!! 😬😬😵😵‍💫

Balut has got to be #1... Apparently it smells/tastes just as bad as it looks 😵. What about you?