Am Do, 27. September 2007 01:40:24 schrieb [EMAIL PROTECTED]: > On Wed, 26 Sep 2007, Roberto Gorjão wrote: > > With respect, where exactly is said that this is an English only speaking > > list? > > Hejsan Roberto > > That's a Swedish greeting since I'm a Swede:-) > > > I've browsed thoroughly through the LyX's site and the LyX's wiki, I've > > asked for help to the ezmlm program that runs this list and it doesn't > > say, anywhere, that this is an English only speaking list. > > > > I'm a newcomer to this list so I don't know if such a rule really exists > > or not, but its meaning, if it exists, worries me. > > I've followed this list on and off for a decade now, first as a user and > later as a developer, and I think it's safe to say it is "English only". > Thank you for telling us that the web site and the wiki doesn't have this > information, maybe it's something we should add, together with an > explanation of why. > > As for letting people know it's "English only", this should of course be > done in a polite manner that is easy to understand. > > I can give you some reasons for why the list is English only, and I hope > this will alleviate your concerns. The way I see it, it's important to > remember that this is a public list in a community. Simply put, when we > contribute to this list, we are not only helping the person that asked the > question, but also everyone else that reads the thread -- now as well as > in the future. > > Put differently, it'd be selfish to for instance ask to get a reply > privately because then only that person benefits. Somewhat similarly, > getting a reply in a language that a minority understands could also be > construed as selfish. Since English is the language most users are likely > to be able to read, it makes sense that questions and answers should be in > English. > > Regarding the history, AFAIK, English was not the native language of the > original LyX developers. However, English was, and still remains, the > language used to communicate between the developers. At the latest LyX > developers meeting I think there was one Finn/(Dutch?), one Norwegian, one > Swede, one German, one French and two Portugese/(Italian?). AFAIK, none of > them has English as a native tongue:-) > > As for a user that is uncomfortable or unable to express himself in > English, he could for instance start by asking for help in translating the > question. As long as the question and answer are understandable in > English, it really doesn't matter how the question is originally posed. > Again, this is so that most of us will be able to benefit. > > If this is not desireable or inconvenient for a group of people, then they > can and have started separate forums. See for instance: > > http://news.gmane.org/gmane.editors.lyx.french > > We can only hope that they will also follow this list, and contribute > non-local issues here as well.
Why not take a leaf out of how the Scribus list [1] handles languages other than english? Even though English is the official list language there are postings in other languages. And there is always someone who will translate it so that others are able to give an answer. And they handle this on a very polite way, IMO a very positive example wich is quite unique for mailing lists. For this it might be a good idea to explain which language is prefered (english) and which additional languages are spoken by list members who are willing to translate a posting. As the scribuus list this list also is not a high traffic list so I think it might be worth to give it a try. Tschüss, Wolfgang [2] http://nashi.altmuehlnet.de/mailman/listinfo/scribus
