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On 2010.06.16 23:33, Sebastian Pipping wrote: |
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> Roy, |
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> |
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> |
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> On 06/16/10 21:40, Roy Bamford wrote: |
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> > As a native English speaker (from England) I view Jers reply as |
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> terse |
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> > and to the point, completely lacking in tone. |
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> |
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> interesting. Looking at the sentence |
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> |
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> "When did you point this out to devrel?" |
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> |
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> I would like to say that while it's not impolite per se it's |
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> implicitly |
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> saying "You _have to_ point this out to dev rel" in my ears. A more |
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> or |
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> less word-by-word translation to German ("Wann hast du das gegenüber |
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> DevRel angesprochen?") would make perfect sense and carry the same |
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> problem so I assume it's not an English language thing. In contrast |
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> asking |
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> |
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> "Have you pointed this out to DevRel? What was their reaction?" |
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> |
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> does not seem to have this mis-hearing problem, at least not to me. |
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> |
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Hmm - thats interesting, I subconsciously read the two questions into |
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the one posted. I accept you point. Its something I am likely to write |
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myself without thinking about it too much too. |
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> |
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> I remember a guy of the German Unix User Group (GUUG) saying |
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> something |
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> like |
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> |
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> "Communication is always oriented at the receiver". |
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> |
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Communication is a two way process. On other more immediate |
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media, that's reinforced as the "receiver" often asks questions to |
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clarify the intent of the communication. That does not seem to happen |
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as much in email so misunderstandings are more frequent and more |
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damaging as they take longer to resolve. |
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|
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> Applying that to tone and avoiding mis-interpretation the sender has |
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> the |
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> power (and arguably the responsiblity) to sounds as friendly as |
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> needed |
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> to be sure it will not be understood as unfriendly. In a way there's |
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> always a way to be friendlier - _without_ faking anything. |
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> |
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Hmm - its quite possible to give offence without intending to. The |
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receiver also has the power and responsibility to clarify the intent of |
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the communication before concluding that it was intended in any |
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particular manner. |
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|
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> Best, |
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> |
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> |
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> |
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> Sebastian |
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> |
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> |
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> |
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|
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-- |
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Regards, |
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|
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Roy Bamford |
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(Neddyseagoon) a member of |
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gentoo-ops |
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forum-mods |
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trustees |