Why am I getting GoFundMe update messages in French?
January 1, 2024 11:26 AM Subscribe
I've only helped out two gofundme pages in the past, and all of the update messages are in French. Why?
I haven't used GoFundMe very often, so I don't know if this is a known issue.
I've helped out two gofundme pages in the past.
In both cases, I did not create an account or log in. I just used my email address as an identifier for my donation.
But all of the update messages I'm getting are in French. That is, the stock messages, like "Merci pour votre don sur la campagne..." and "Nom du donateur :". The updates from the people in question, obviously, are in the language they wrote in (English).
The first one I backed was for someone in Canada, so I figured that the French messages were something in their settings. But I've just helped out another friend, and the messages continue to be in French.
It just seems bizarre to me. Is this a known thing?
I felt like coming to askmefi first instead of dealing with gofundme's support bots because I might get a sensible answer here.
I haven't used GoFundMe very often, so I don't know if this is a known issue.
I've helped out two gofundme pages in the past.
In both cases, I did not create an account or log in. I just used my email address as an identifier for my donation.
But all of the update messages I'm getting are in French. That is, the stock messages, like "Merci pour votre don sur la campagne..." and "Nom du donateur :". The updates from the people in question, obviously, are in the language they wrote in (English).
The first one I backed was for someone in Canada, so I figured that the French messages were something in their settings. But I've just helped out another friend, and the messages continue to be in French.
It just seems bizarre to me. Is this a known thing?
I felt like coming to askmefi first instead of dealing with gofundme's support bots because I might get a sensible answer here.
Response by poster: Random thought. Are you using a VPN or anything like that which might be confusing the site's geolocation?
Not that I'm aware of. Nothing on purpose. Not trying to obfuscate my IP or anything.
And it's only happening for GFM, and nowhere else. And the two backings of "projects" (is that the right word?) are so far apart they were probably from completely different machines.
posted by jozxyqk at 11:34 AM on January 1
Not that I'm aware of. Nothing on purpose. Not trying to obfuscate my IP or anything.
And it's only happening for GFM, and nowhere else. And the two backings of "projects" (is that the right word?) are so far apart they were probably from completely different machines.
posted by jozxyqk at 11:34 AM on January 1
I see a language switcher at the very bottom of the page, at left. You should be able to fix the problem there, although it doesn't answer your question why.
posted by zadcat at 11:44 AM on January 1
posted by zadcat at 11:44 AM on January 1
Response by poster: I see a language switcher at the very bottom of the page, at left. You should be able to fix the problem there, although it doesn't answer your question why.
It's not the page that's the problem. The page is presenting in US English. It's only the emails.
(I won't be babysitting the question for much longer, I'll be back later to see if someone else has the same issue)
posted by jozxyqk at 11:49 AM on January 1
It's not the page that's the problem. The page is presenting in US English. It's only the emails.
(I won't be babysitting the question for much longer, I'll be back later to see if someone else has the same issue)
posted by jozxyqk at 11:49 AM on January 1
I (Canadian in Ontario) have had eg Google (and other) pages randomly switch to French. (Tbqh I’ve occasionally wondered whether a Québécois separatist developer might have had something to do with it. More likely, it’s some kind of glitch.) Following with interest.
posted by cotton dress sock at 2:12 PM on January 1
posted by cotton dress sock at 2:12 PM on January 1
Response by poster: Thanks to this question, I've actually been contacted in memail by a GFM developer. I submitted a ticket and they're working with me on this.
I love this part of their answer:
the system answers the question "what language does this user want" in a bunch of, uh, varied ways
As a dev myself, I completely understand the "uh, varied ways"
posted by jozxyqk at 1:23 PM on January 2
I love this part of their answer:
the system answers the question "what language does this user want" in a bunch of, uh, varied ways
As a dev myself, I completely understand the "uh, varied ways"
posted by jozxyqk at 1:23 PM on January 2
Best answer: RESOLUTION:
I was contacted by the GFM support team, and they simply instructed me to create an account.
I went through this process, and all throughout, the instructions over email and text message continued to be in French. But after the account was created, I was able to go into my settings and change the default language from French to English.
One test email later seems to have fixed the problem.
The open question is still how it got to be French in the first place when I never had any settings to set.. but I may just never know that.
posted by jozxyqk at 5:06 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
I was contacted by the GFM support team, and they simply instructed me to create an account.
I went through this process, and all throughout, the instructions over email and text message continued to be in French. But after the account was created, I was able to go into my settings and change the default language from French to English.
One test email later seems to have fixed the problem.
The open question is still how it got to be French in the first place when I never had any settings to set.. but I may just never know that.
posted by jozxyqk at 5:06 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
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posted by Alensin at 11:31 AM on January 1