> From: Paul Smith <[email protected]> > Cc: Sam Ravnborg <[email protected]>, [email protected] > Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2010 09:47:09 -0400 > > On Mon, 2010-09-13 at 08:46 +0200, Eli Zaretskii wrote: > > Did you consider the possibility that this is due to Ali trying to > > express himself in a language that isn't his first one? > > > > I'm really ashamed to read such remarks on a list that is supposed to > > help newbies, including those whose first language is not English. > > Although I wouldn't have used the terms he did, in fairness to Sam it > seems quite clear from Ali's ability to state his frustration and > dissatisfaction with the quality of the documentation that he's more > than capable of expressing himself in English, regardless of whether > it's his first language. If he were less capable, I'd be more inclined > to ignore the tone of his messages.
Being capable of expressing frustration does not mean he is also in command of the nuances of the English language wrt expressing that frustration. > I'm not sure how far we should go to ignore recurring rudeness in these > situations. It's been many weeks now and a number of people have asked > him to moderate his comments, to no avail. I find nothing rude in his messages, except too many exclams and the obvious dissatisfaction with the wording of the manual. Now, I don't want to start a he-said-she-said argument about this. I'm just asking everyone to please not forget that we are talking to a non-native English speaker (which is obviously a major part of his frustration with how the manual is worded). In my experience, more often than not the so-called "rudeness" is simply misunderstanding due to insufficient command of English and cultural differences. It is best to assume you are misunderstood than that you are being offended. > Perhaps you're right and we should just be ignoring his email completely That's definitely not what I meant. I meant to say that if someone is infuriated by his messages to the degree that they don't want to respond, they can do so silently. I do happen to think that understanding his comments will go a long way towards making the manual more clear and better organized. _______________________________________________ Help-make mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-make
