netfilter users mailing list in other languages ?

[Fabrice MARIE]

On Wednesday 01 August 2001 11:44, Radel wrote:
> Fabrice MARIE wrote:
> > Hello,
> > I'm getting more and more questions in French
> > by people who have problems using netfilter.
> > I find myself answering always the same questions,
> > where a mailing list would have archives that these
> > people would understand.
> > As there are more and more people using netfilter
> > (and not all of them can understand English clearly)
> > I think it would be a good idea to have additional
> > mailing lists in different languages.
> > [cut]
> > What do you think ?
> > Have a nice day,
> > Fabrice.

Hello Radel,

> I'm Italian, and I cannot speak/write english very well, but I disagree
> with you. I think that another list is not so useful: french (or other languages)
> people should be able to read docs BEFORE asking in the list, but 99% of
> it is in English!

If I follow your way of thinking, there shouldn't be a Italian linux
mailing list because all the Linux documentation is in English anyway ??!
I strongly disagree. The goal of a mailing list is to share and to help each other,
and generally learn from it. If this is best done in your mother tongue langage
(and it usually is, even though I cannot understand a word of technical French
and prefer English for that) then what is the harm in supporting other langages ?
Additionally, the _main_ documentation is definitely
the so called `unreliable' HOWTOs. They are so used by people that
I wouldn't dare to call them unreliable any more (Thanks to Rusty & Harald btw).
This documentation is translated in many langages already. And oviously enough,
if they were translated in the first place, it was so that it would be useful
to those who do not _master_ English.

Most of the questions I get come from the fact that the people are
misunderstanding some very specific sentences found in the _mailing-list_
archives. Not because they are not trying. Just because they do not master
the langage. They never ask me all the basic questions answered in the HOWTOs,
but only the kind of questions that we find in English on the netfilter
mailing list (about p-o-m particulars, troubleshooting of rules, etc...).

> So ask them to learn the most populare and useful language in the world.
> This will open many eyes looking at the French as the 1st language (and
> nation) of the world.

No comment. But I don't know why you say that because French really love Italian
langage and Italia generally speaking, so you don't need to have bad feelings ;-)

Have a nice day,

Ciao.
Fabrice.
-- 
Fabrice MARIE
R&D Engineer
Celestix Networks
http://www.celestix.com/

"Silly hacker, root is for administrators" 
       -Unknown