[Foundation-l] How not to manage opensource project

[Gerard Meijssen]

David Gerard wrote:
> On 03/09/06, Anthere <Anthere9 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>   
>>> Does it mean that the foundation is involved in every little decision?
>>> Of course not, but that is not what "governs" and "manages" means.
>>>       
>
>   
>> I think... governing and managing have a significant different sens in
>> english and french.
>>     
>
>
> Apart from all else, they're related but different languages. So the
> words "govern" and "manage" may appear to mean the same thing in both
> (adjusting to each other's spelling conventions) but not. So if the
> French readers are reading the words "governing" and "managing" and
> thinking they have the French meaning when they don't, then all they
> need to do is ASSUME BAD FAITH and then we get pages like that one.
>
> Note that errors of translation combine badly with assumption of bad
> faith. Wikimedia has had blowups recently caused by precisely this.
> And I blame the groundless assumptions of bad faith.
>
>
> - d.
Hoi,
Words are known to be problematic; awareness about this can be deduced 
by the fact that a book on this topic is doing the rounds. It becomes an 
added responsibility to be careful with using problematic concepts when 
you are aware of these issues. I have seen several great examples where 
people where given a message that did not arrive because the way in 
which it was put did not convey the message. Many people are not plain 
spoken.

When assuming bad faith is seen as the problem of the person listening 
and the person speaking is "innocent", you paint a picture where 
absolute understanding of the English language is expected. It is easy 
to understand that this is not what happens in real life even among 
those that speak some form of English. The French and the English 
language are in different language families and thereby not really 
related, the French and the British share a long history of mutual 
opposition and distrust.

There is a word for words that seem to mean the same but do not; they 
are false friends.

Thanks,
    GerardM