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- Path: news.clark.net!not-for-mail
- From: gusty@clark.net (Harlan Messinger)
- Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer,comp.lang.c++
- Subject: Re: ÷┼╠┼┌╬┴╤ ─╧╥╧╟┴(╬╒╓┼╬ ┴╠╟╧╥╔╘═)╙═.╨╔╙╪═╧
- Date: 22 Mar 1996 22:59:18 GMT
- Organization: Clark Internet Services, Inc., Ellicott City, MD USA
- Message-ID: <4ivbc6$cgk@clarknet.clark.net>
- References: <AAH06JnGJ4@victor.home.chg.ru> <314FF8F4.FF6@sonytel.be> <4ippfp$ir@clarknet.clark.net> <1996Mar21.155605.23307@igs.com> <4islp0$i6q@clarknet.clark.net> <1996Mar22.164506.17258@igs.com>
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-
- Bruce Geerdes (bgeerdes@igs.com) wrote:
- :
- : >Why would netiquette single
- : >out the non-speakers of one language for exclusion from the broad range
- : >of Internet facilities that the speakers of that language are able to
- : >take for granted?
- :
- : So you would rather everyone of every language post to this newsgroup
- : instead of, say, creating specific language groups? No one is being
- : excluded from the internet. If a need for a French C++ programming group
- : exists, one will be created. If, on the other hand, they want to reach
- : the largest possible programming audience, they should probably post to
- : this newsgroup, in English.
-
- I have no problem with groups created for specific languages. So specify
- the language when you create a newsgroup. But I don't like the idea of
- people following a newsgroup where the language isn't specified, and then
- taking it upon themselves to impose their language preference on everyone
- else who might want to use the group for the same reason.
-
- I also think it's _preferable_ to have newsgroups for non-cultural topics
- like C++ that are central repositories for discussions on the subject in
- any language. For example, I can follow postings in Spanish, Portuguese,
- German, Dutch, French and, apparently, Asturian and Catalan (which I found
- out when I came across newsgroups dedicated to the latter two cultures).
- So suppose there's a woman in Brazil who speaks no English but has a
- question or a point to make concerning C++. I might be able to help her
- with her question, or I might particularly benefit from her
- discussion--but I'm not subscribing to Portuguese language newsgroups, and
- if there IS one on C++ it's not on my server. But why in the world should
- she limit her arena to people who speak one language or another, or who
- frequent her PARTICULAR C++ newsgroup? She can reach a wider audience on
- one central newsgroup.
-
- Suppose _I_ have a question and am having a hard time getting a response?
- Instead of hunting around for every C++ newsgroup in every language, and
- then posting to all of them--which itself is a violation of netiquette,
- remember?--I ought to be able to post in the central newsgroup, with a
- translation of my own text into several languages within one posting, and
- hope to have the widest possible audience available to me.
-
- Isn't it useful to have the Internet bring the world closer together
- instead of enforcing the distances between us?
-
- : Sorry you don't like it. As I said before, I did not make it up. Maybe
- : the "English by default" rule no longer applies. A lot has changed since
- : I first started using the internet.
-
- You do assume it's a rule. When did it become a rule, and under whose
- authority? Is it widely accepted among non-English speakers using the
- Internet, or was it regally imposed by people who speak English?
-
-
- :
- : I personally do not believe that English *should* be the default because
- : it's superior or anything. It's just worked out that way. I do see the
- : benefit of having a default language, however. It helps the world
- : communicate.
-
- How does it help the world communicate if it effectively cuts people out
- of forums that would otherwise be open to them?
-
-