🚀 go-pugleaf

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?