On 11/8/05, Mark Williamson node.ue@gmail.com wrote:

Soon enough, the Zlatiborians will wage a struggle for independence against their evil Serbian oppressors, and they will emerge victorious! Finally, the inhabitants of Mt Zlatibor will be able to live free from the shackles of Serbian oppression, and their culture will be admired internationally for its glory and beauty!

When that time comes, the enemies of the Zlatiborian people, yourself included, will meet with swift justice, and let me tell you it will not be pleasant!

Mark,

When the matter goes as far as Milos saying that the Serbian and Montenegro Chapter does not want to be part of Wikimedia, I think you should really try to evaluate what damage you have caused.

I am going to ask you to finally make your point and stop playing around. I have reread this whole thread and am now convinced this is all a hoax. Great. Very funny. Can you please make your point and let us be finished with this whole thing?

I am also going to ask you to consider one thing, you the paragon of forgotten languages and languages in general. You seem to have forgotten one very important thing. You have been leading this whole hoax in English, using irony and double-meanings, with emphasis and great sentences. But you are dealing with people (myself included) who are not native English speakers. And who, as you may have noticed, have failed to see the irony and have taken the matter at heart. In short, you have been using them.

As a non-native English speaker, and yet someone who strives to master the language, I am probably best placed to say how the most difficult thing to catch in a language is humour. And how when humour is lost on someone and you see it drift in seriousness, you should just hold you hand up and say "stop! I was joking". Hurting feelings and making fun of people because they don't speak your language is about the worst thing I can see happening in this supposedly "multicultural" community. Most of us are making efforts to address you in a language you master, you have not made that effort. Not even one little bit.

I feel this is not only inconsiderate, but also plain nasty.

On another note, I am sorry to tell you that you have, on top of playing with people's feelings, failed to make your point. At least, *I* have failed to see where you were leading. Blame it on my non-English-speaker-ness, or whatever else suits your funny self. But hey, target missed. Game over.

I will add just one thing. You and all of the other native English speakers who played along and never tried to clear things up should really once try and put themselves in our shoes. Once. Just once. I believe it would help. Really.

Cheers,

Delphine -- ~notafish