Re: [gentoo-dev] Cultural Differences (was: Suggestion: INVALID -> NOCHANGE in bugzilla)

[Alec Warner]

>
> Sadly, this just goes to show how people need to be more careful in
> their wording in a community like ours with people coming from so many
> different cultures. Or maybe people need to lighten up a bit more, I
> don't really know which.
>
> Anyone have any further suggestions how we as a community can avoid
> this sorta confusion from in-jokes, idioms, etc? It seems to be
> happening very often now-a-days (or maybe I'm just paying more
> attention than I used to).

Well I'm a native speaker so I guess I'm biased in this regard ;)

I generally recommend a few thing assumptions:

A.  People really aren't out to get you.  As much flaming as you see
between certain individuals on this list (and in other venues) most people
really just want to talk about ideas and get work done.  They aren't out
to make fun of you or insult you (or your mother, etc..)

B.  People misunderstand stuff all the time (myself included). 
Particularly when talking to non-native speakers of English I find that I
don't always understand or interpret things correctly.  This is why you
will see me asking more detailed questions about certain aspects of the
argument.

A and B come from a general view that people are going to aim to do good
instead of bad.  If there is a situation where I am feeling insulted I
usually assume I've misunderstood the situation rather than take offense.

Some individuals also take ownership of their ideas and get really
defensive about them (even when their ideas really do suck ass).  This is
something you should avoid; in most healthy environments even good ideas
will get criticised.  Nothing in this world is as black and white such
that everyone will instantly agree with you or have no objections.  Be
prepared to defense and back up your ideas (preferably with good arguments
and numbers etc..)

-Alec

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