This hope was not realized.  The consensus was in favor of the use of
English only, but the numbers are not overwhelming, especially considering
that there were only 52 responses from the readers of so busy a newsgroup.

The conclusion seems to be that if you want to post in some other language
than English in comp.lang.c, then a considerable number of readers will
feel that you've acted improperly, while a considerable number of other
readers (including me, by the way) will feel that you haven't -- though
clearly your article will have a smaller readership.  There were a couple
of suggestions that you should restrict distribution if you do this: you
could post in French with distribution only to France, say.

The last thing to observe is that people in comp.lang.c generally are
getting pretty tired of this thread, and followups are directed, with
some emphasis, to news.misc.

And now, here are the results.  People were asked to agree with one
of two statements, or to write in a one-line response of their own.

The responses in favor of English only:

  "I think postings to comp.lang.c should properly be in English"

  And write-ins in the same general vein as the above:

  "I think all postings to comp.lang.c should be in English"

  "I think that postings to comp.lang.c should be in English"

  "i think post to comp.lang.c should be in english"

  "I think that all posts to comp.lang.c should be in proper English"

  "I think postings to comp.lang.c should properly be in proper English"

  "ENGLISH unless distribution is local"

  "comp.lang.c postings with world distribution should be in English;
   more restricted distributions may use more suitable languages"

The responses in favor of all languages:

  "I think all languages can properly be used to post to comp.lang.c"

  And the write-ins in the same general vein as the above:

  "I think all languages can properly be used to post on comp.lang.c"

  "I think all languages are acceptable, however it would be courteous
   if the subject announced which language it was in"

  "All languages should be OK.  But they're not helpful to monolinguals"

And there were 5 write-ins expressing other opinions, or declining
to express any opinion.

  "I believe it is an offensive waste of other people's resources
    to post in two languages (in the same message).  Messages should be
    posted in one appropriate language:
       1) A language widely understood by users of the net.
       2) The poster's first language"

  "English (most people now *use*) and Esperanto (country-neutral)"

  "comp.lang.c is conducted primarily in English"

  "I don't care, just get the non-C postings *out* of comp.lang.c!"

  "I think that comp.lang.c should not be used for surveys, dammit"

Thanks to everyone who responded, and once again, TAKE IT TO news.misc
IF YOU WANT TO SAY MORE.  Please.  S'il vous plait.  Bitte.  Por favor.
--
Mark Brader        "... given time, a generally accepted solution to this
Toronto             problem will evolve, as it has in the past for ... [other]
utzoo!sq!msb         issues, only to be replaced by the next issue, which no-one

This article is in the public domain.

If I viewed a message in Dutch I wouldn't know what I was looking at or what
it was saying (and that's not limited to just Dutch). You should probably
use the language that the majority of readers and posters of a newsgroup
are already using. It doesn't take long (using a little commonsense) to
figure what basic language is being used in a newsgroup. Stick with it.

bill

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Buy & Sell American When Possible!  <->  All Standard Disclaimers Do Apply!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

English is not the native language of the majority of the world and
the concept that everyone else in the world should bend to the whim
of Americans is patently ridiculous.  If you don't understand the
language, hit the 'n' key. Just like you would do if it was in English
but you didn't understand the topic.

There are some of us who can read/speak other languages and we are glad
to answer questions for people even if they don't speak English.

bill

--
Bill Gunshannon          | "There are no evil thoughts, Mr. Reardon" Francisco

University of Scranton   |
Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>  

.

   What do you call a person who speaks 3 languages??   Tri-lingual
   What do you call a person who speaks 2 languages??   Bi-lingual
   What do you call a person who speaks 1 language??    American

Cute, but unfortunately too true.  I have studied other languages
in the past, but cannot claim to be at all competent in them.

   English is not the native language of the majority of the world and
   the concept that everyone else in the world should bend to the whim
   of Americans is patently ridiculous.  If you don't understand the
   language, hit the 'n' key. Just like you would do if it was in English
   but you didn't understand the topic.

   There are some of us who can read/speak other languages and we are glad
   to answer questions for people even if they don't speak English.

Good points.  However, you do limit your readership (those who may
answer questions or benefit from your reply) by not posting in English
in a world-wide group where the pre{*filter*} language is English.  (I
think I've eliminated many regional and soc.culture groups from
discussion here, but left c.l.c.)  It's the poster's choice.  I expect
that more people (especially computer types) can read and write in
English than in any other single language.

Again, if the poster can write in comprehensible English and chooses
not to, the poster chooses to limit readership.
--

    employed by, not speaking for, AS&M Inc, at
         NASA LaRC, Hampton VA 23681-0001

--
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
 in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--

FWIW, I learned that to be truly bilingual, one must be bicultural.
My wife has been on Canada for only 10 years.  Her (Canadian) English
is almost impeccable, with the occasional slip up with words beginning
with "w" or "v".  Yet she may not be familiar with the many things
that local folks learn as they pass from childhood to {*filter*}hood.
Nursery rhymes are a case in point.  How can she be expected to
understand a joke that a comedian makes, if he alludes to a
certain nursery rhyme or North American folk tale?

Competence is in the eyes/ears of the reader/listener.

Food for thought:  Irish Gaelic and Welsh are thought to be dying
languages.  It's thought that Irish Gaelic will be toast by the end
of this decade/millenium.  Welsh, however, is the only language in
the world to have government funding to keep it alive.  E.g.,
there's a government funded TV station which speaks only Welsh.
However, is the pre{*filter*} language within the broadcasting
area Welsh?

I'm not saying newsgroups should be polylingual.  I am, however,
condemning the "we don't allow yer kind 'round here" attitude.
This isn't a flame, so don't take it personally.  I'm just
making my personal statement.
--
Jim Carroll                   | "Big fleas have little fleas,

                              |  and little fleas have lesser fleas,
#include <std-disclaimer.h>   |  and so, ad infinitum."