[Mageia-discuss] IRC community channels - need a ruling from the board

[Christopher Swift]

On 5 October 2010 03:07, Richard <richard.j.walker at ntlworld.com> wrote:
> On Tuesday 05 October 2010 02:14:47 Christopher Swift wrote:
>> Since the
>> English language is the current lingua-franca of technology (why else is
>> this list in English) there isn't much of a requirement for there to be
>> an English language community for Mageia as the de-facto language in
>> most instances unless in a localised channel will be English by default.
>>
> Ouch! Christopher, I was with you for a while there but whilst it isn't your
> main theme, I'm afraid I just couldn't let this statement of yours go
> un-challenged.
<snip>
> Your assertion that "English language is the current lingua-franca of
> technology" and by extension, I suppose, of computery things, is not my
> perception. For Mandriva, and I suspect for Mageia too, the language should
> more accurately be described as US English. Though they sound very similar
> when spoken, the North American fork of the English language can look very
> different on paper. Even in the spoken form there are jarring discordant
> deviations from standard English grammar which are perfectly correct in US
> English.

It's true that in "computery things" en_US is more of the lingua
franca than en_GB or en_IE while although there are some minor
varieties in phrases and sometimes grammar, the American "write me"
compared to the British "write to me" the differences are small enough
that the US and the UK folk can for the most part understand each
other with very little difficulty. <OT> The main problem that faces me
in American English is their preference of -ization to -isation but I
can come to terms with that over time... </OT>

> So I reckon that somewhere for English speaking people from the UK to hang out
> is, I think, a great idea - so long as we don't need to present our passports
> to prove citizenship:-)
>
And this is what I've gathered so far from idling the channel for the
United Kingdom.  I can assure you that there's no nationality test as
you join it however at the same time it provides the opportunity for
like-minded folk from the same locality to get along and by all means
the Dutch, Ukrainians, Americans and everyone else is welcome to
attend providing they have a basic command of English (even if that
means using Google Translate)!


On 5 October 2010 03:36, Hoyt Duff <hoytduff at gmail.com> wrote:
> I see no need for a GB-only enclave and believe it would only serve to
> isolate them from the larger community. OTOH, where a Linux-oriented
> community exists where many do not speake English in any manner, a
> local-language forun serves to include them in the larger community
> where the lingua-franca is English.

I partly agree that if you become to attached to a subset of the
community, in this case -uk then you might not take the time to join
the channel channels such as #mageia.  At the same time having
community channels to me for local or national groups is a great way
to be more inclusive to people in those regions without the need to be
excluding outsiders, as always other nationalities are welcome to join
the -uk channel even though its target is the UK audience.  The
reasons for choosing to target a country rather than a language can
differ from reasons such as wanting to setup local events for Mageia
(unlikely for the immediate future but this time next year who
knows?), providing local support such as British computer vendors that
sell hardware compatible with Mageia without the need for downloading
drivers not included in the standard distribution and it can even act
to help with the en_GB localisation of Mageia specific strings one
day.