Re: fr.

[mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman)]

In article <dewar.854294234@merv>, Robert Dewar <dewar@merv.cs.nyu.edu> wrote:
>Mike says

[snip]

>You might as well argue that there should be only one giant newsgroup
>in the world, and that those wanting information on Ada can simply delete
>messages more suitable to alt.startrek.sex.fetish.

Not so. The groups are organized by interest, not by natural language.

[snip]

> Mike, you can subscribe to the English, French and Dutch
>newsgroups, but it seems like it would be a complete waste of time
>for you to see messages in Japanese, so you simply do not select this
>group.

I disagree. I'd much prefer to see those messages here.

[snip]

>But for now, separate newsgroups is what makes sense. I realize that 
>current trendy political correctness leads in the direction of thinking
>that it is frightfully liberal and tolerant to welcome mixed languages
>on newsgroups, but from a pragmatic sense it is simply silly.

You and I will simply have to agree to disagree here. You may think
it's silly; I don't. It's got nothing to do with PC; I am as much
entitled to state my preferences,  Robert, as you are yours.
I prefer to see one big, happy Ada family, not a bunch of little
natural-language-centric fragments.

>For those who like to see messages in foreign languages, simply subscribe
>to all the groups in sight! Mike did you subscribe to the French Ada
>group? If not, why not?

Because I'd prefer to see the Ada community - which is small enough,
heaven knows, getting together in one place. I'd much rather see the
messages here. It's easy enough to delete a message whose subject
line is in a language you don't (wish to try to) understand.

There's plenty of noise on this group generated by English writers.
Once we have an agreeably high S/N ratio (we do not now, IMHO), we
can worry about the odd post that (gasp) arrives in another language.

This is my last word on this subject. As far as I am concerned, posts
are welcome in any language as long as they are on the subject of _Ada_.

Robert is, of course, welcome to disagreee. That's the nice part of the
Net newsgroups. They are everybody's, and nobody's, property.

Mike Feldman
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Michael B. Feldman -  chair, SIGAda Education Working Group
Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
The George Washington University -  Washington, DC 20052 USA
202-994-5919 (voice) - 202-994-0227 (fax) 
http://www.seas.gwu.edu/faculty/mfeldman
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       Pork is all that money the government gives the other guys.
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