[Foundation-l] An observation on languages

[Birgitte SB]

I would encourage people who feel this way to set up
their mail to ignore those that they find too often
heated and/or off-topic.  If there is a thread that
really interests me, I tend to read it through the
archives to make sure I don't miss anything.  But even
just having two people ignored makes this mailing list
a different place.  And then maybe it will be easier
to reply on-topic as you won't realize so much has
been said.  

Birgitte SB


--- Jerome Banal <jerome.banal at gmail.com> wrote:

> Seconded.
> 
> The only things I feel comfortable posting here are
> 2 lines long answers or
> are answers to post that are left unanswered since
> several hours.
> Coming with a thoughtful/insightful answer takes
> time, but in the mean time
> you can be sure that 10 mails will have been posted
> on the thread, posts
> that you will need to read to make sure you are not
> making a redundant post
> or missing an important idea. And often, the subject
> has drifted so far that
> such a post would seems by then off-topic compared
> to the heated posts of
> that time.
> 
> So I think most peoples now remain silent and just
> try to keep themselves
> informed but do not voice their opinions as it feels
> a waste of time.
> 
> And I live in England, so the language is not even
> much a problem for me.
> Just imagine peoples for which this list is the main
> daily contact with
> English language...
> 
> Jerome
> 
> 
> 2008/1/25, Delphine Ménard <notafishz at gmail.com>:
> >
> > On Jan 25, 2008 6:10 AM,  <daniwo59 at aol.com>
> wrote:
> > > Looking over this list for the past couple of
> months, several key issues
> > > have been discussed. I notice, however, that
> most of the discussion is
> > by
> > > members of the English projects, with the
> notable exception of Gerard.
> > In
> > > comparison, two years ago on Foundation-l and
> three and four years ago
> > on  Wikipedia-l
> > > (pre-Foundation-l), there was much more vigorous
> participation from
> > > representatives of other projects. In fact, that
> is what made Wikipedia
> > a truly
> > > international organization.
> > >
> > > I wonder where so many of the participants of
> those discussions have
> > > drifted. Is the discussion taking place on
> chapter lists, at the expense
> > of  the
> > > Foundation umbrella, or is it taking place on
> internal-l, at the expense
> > of
> > > transparency.
> >
> > As far as I can make out, neither.
> >
> > I'd have one explanation though. There comes a
> point where reading in
> > a language that is not yours, on a list that
> sprouts an average of 20
> > emails of more than 2 pages a day, very often on a
> level of English
> > that is hard to follow, just prevents one, as a
> non-English speaker,
> > from participating. I consider myself as having a
> rather good level of
> > English, but sorry, when you get a thread
> dominated by lengthy English
> > speakers, I just give up.
> >
> > Apart from that, I find that people who have
> little to say on a
> > subject, or who actually answer "on the side", are
> somehow also too
> > present, and answer faster than their shadow [1],
> often depleting a
> > thread of its substance in the very first emails
> to veer towards
> > uninteresting side conversations, or even
> considerations that have
> > nothing to do with the subject at hand. Which, for
> those who might
> > have something to say about a subject but need a
> little time to
> > formulate their answer, means that they'd be going
> back to a dead
> > thread when they're ready to participate.
> >
> > To summarize: Level of English and fast pace of
> the list. I would
> > personally not look further for an explanation.
> >
> > Delphine
> > [1] see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Luke
> > --
> > ~notafish
> > http://blog.notanendive.org
> >
> > NB. This gmail address is used for mailing lists.
> Personal emails sent
> > to this address will probably get lost.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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>
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> >
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