On Wed, 26 Sep 2007, Roberto Gorjão wrote:
With respect, where exactly is said that this is an English only speaking
list?
Hejsan Roberto
That's a Swedish greeting since I'm a Swede:-)
I've browsed thoroughly through the LyX's site and the LyX's wiki, I've
asked for help to the ezmlm program that runs this list and it doesn't
say, anywhere, that this is an English only speaking list.
I'm a newcomer to this list so I don't know if such a rule really exists
or not, but its meaning, if it exists, worries me.
I've followed this list on and off for a decade now, first as a user and
later as a developer, and I think it's safe to say it is "English only".
Thank you for telling us that the web site and the wiki doesn't have this
information, maybe it's something we should add, together with an
explanation of why.
As for letting people know it's "English only", this should of course be
done in a polite manner that is easy to understand.
I can give you some reasons for why the list is English only, and I hope
this will alleviate your concerns. The way I see it, it's important to
remember that this is a public list in a community. Simply put, when we
contribute to this list, we are not only helping the person that asked the
question, but also everyone else that reads the thread -- now as well as
in the future.
Put differently, it'd be selfish to for instance ask to get a reply
privately because then only that person benefits. Somewhat similarly,
getting a reply in a language that a minority understands could also be
construed as selfish. Since English is the language most users are likely
to be able to read, it makes sense that questions and answers should be in
English.
Regarding the history, AFAIK, English was not the native language of the
original LyX developers. However, English was, and still remains, the
language used to communicate between the developers. At the latest LyX
developers meeting I think there was one Finn/(Dutch?), one Norwegian, one
Swede, one German, one French and two Portugese/(Italian?). AFAIK, none of
them has English as a native tongue:-)
As for a user that is uncomfortable or unable to express himself in
English, he could for instance start by asking for help in translating the
question. As long as the question and answer are understandable in
English, it really doesn't matter how the question is originally posed.
Again, this is so that most of us will be able to benefit.
If this is not desireable or inconvenient for a group of people, then they
can and have started separate forums. See for instance:
http://news.gmane.org/gmane.editors.lyx.french
We can only hope that they will also follow this list, and contribute
non-local issues here as well.
Sincere regards,
/Christian
--
Christian Ridderström, +46-8-768 39 44 http://www.md.kth.se/~chr
