What?! Threads in Spanish are bad???

The BBQ Pit
1

Eutychus,

¿Por qué cerraste con llave el hilo que escribí a mi amiga? Eso no le hacía daño a nadie. Si Ud. no entendió lo que decía, ¿por qué no simplemente podía pedirle ayuda a un moderador que habla español? Hay que haber algunos en Chicago, y el Reader seguramente tiene fondos para emplear a algunos. Me siento mucha pena que español sea prohibido en el Internet, porque prácticamente es el segundo idioma del país, y el cerrar un hilo sólamente porque esté escrito en español me parece la peor variedad de intolerancia.

¡HI, MARIÚ! ¡BESOS, BESOS, ABRAZOS Y MÁS BESOS PARA TÍ, MI AMOR!!!
MUAHHHHHHHHH

Chrome Spot: Te respondo con mucho gusto, yo nací en Los Angeles, California y aún vivo aquí, pero no soy latino, tengo herencia irlandesa y china, ya tengo 23 años de aprender español (tengo 36 años de edad). Si también cierran este hilo, me puede enviar un correo electrónico cuando quieras. Cuídate, chao.

2

A mod can’t do their job if they can’t read the a post because it’s in a foreign language. It’s not intolerance at all, just practicality.

I’m guessing from the subject line and the final section of your email that you do speak English. If you want a Spanish-language penfriend, maybe you could post in MPSIMS that you’re looking for such, and do it in English.

3

Uh, oh. Morse code earlier this year, now this. I smell trouble brewin’.

4

tclouie, if you read the forum descriptions you will see this topic does not belong here (in fact, I would have recommended email). I think you are not helping you case with this thread…

5

That, sir, is THE CORRECT ANSWER!

Try not to take it so personally. I find it hard to believe that any mod, no matter how cranky they might be, would close down a thread just 'cause they don’t like your language. But even on the offchance that a moderator does understand it, the broad base of us don’t. And if there’s a thread that most of the viewership can’t understand, let alone participate in–perhaps the message is just better left to email?

-Ashley

6

Váyanse yanquis, y llévense consigo al pinche Robert De Niro.
(Yankees go home, and take friggin’ Robert De Niro with you.) :wink:

Si el propósito de un foro es estimular la discusión libre, me parece que el uso de un correo electrónico, que se envía y se lee escondido del público, me parece una solución inadecuada.
(If the purpose of a forum is to stimulate discussion, it seems to me that the use of an email, which is sent and read while hidden from the public, would be a poor solution.)

El Foro Straight Dope es verdaderamente chévere, y me parece triste que los únicos que puedan participar sean los estadounidenses, canadienses, británicos, irlandeses, australianos, nuevazelandeses y los que tienen la suerte de tener acceso al inglés como segundo idioma. Hay muchísima gente por todo el mundo que tenga buenas ideas y comentarios inteligentes que contribuir, y si se insiste que este Foro permanezca “English Only,” me parecería buena idea que el Reader ponga un foro para otros idiomas.
(The Straight Dope Message Board is totally awesome, and it seems a shame to me that the only ones who can participate are people from the US, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Oz, NZ and those who are lucky enough to have learned English as a second language. The world is full of people who have good ideas and intelligent comments to contribute, and if there is an “English Only” rule at SDMB, I think it would be a good idea for the Reader to set up a message board for other languages.)

O si no les gusta esa idea, por los gastos o porque no les guste el multiculturalismo, una mejor solución sería simplemente ignorar y no abrir esos hilos que no puedes entender, o que no quieres entender. De verdad, yo jamás he oído hablar de ninguna regla de “English Only” en este Foro.
(Or if you don’t like that idea, because of the expense or because you don’t like multiculturalism, a better solution would be to simply ignore and not open any threads you don’t understand or don’t want to understand. I have actually never heard of an English-Only rule at SDMB.)

Además, yo simplemente quería dejar una sorpresita para que mi amiguita la encuentre en el Internet. ¿Soy el único que lo ha hecho aquí? ¿Está tan malo eso?
(Also, I just wanted to leave a little surprise for my friend to find on the Internet. Am I the only one who’s done that here? Is that so wrong?)

ABAJO LA CENSURA
(DOWN WITH CENSORSHIP)

BESOS PARA MI MARIUCITA, MI AMOR
(KISSES FOR MY LOVE)

** translation courtesy of a guy who doesn’t want to be misinterpreted **

7

**

I can’t argue with that. But how could a thread aimed at only one specific person possibly be classified as ‘stimulating discussion’?

**

Can’t argue with that, either. Except that it’s really up to the Reader to decide. The Reader doesn’t gain any revenue from these forums, and I don’t believe any of the mods are paid, either. (Not sure about the Admin)

**
I’m not familiar with any written rule, either. However, as was pointed out earlier, if the Moderators can’t read the threads, they can’t moderate them. That’s all there is to it. It’s just easier this way.

**

We already answered this.

**

No. Censorship is what the Taliban does. This is just practicality. The internet owes you no favors. Likewise, I would not scream censorship if the same were to happen to me on a Spanish forum. It’s just common sense.

-Ashley

8

Sorry, TCLouie, but rules is rules…

But they do have a “No Non-English”. In other words, if the Mods can’t read it, they can’t moderate it. If they can’t moderate it, they can’t do their job.

So just be nice, and let them do their job.

9

** tclouie **, Just how does a message to your friend stimulate discussion ? If you want to leave a message for your friend (or whatever) then email ** is ** the best way to do so.

As to your down with censorship remark, this board is owned by the Reader. We are guests here. Would it not be rude if you went to someones home and spoke in a language that neither they nor their guests spoke when you were perfectly able to speak their language ?

The Reader does not have to start a board in another language just to please a few people, nor do they have to allow any of us to post here. And they have every right to censor any post on this board.

And if you make a big deal of this manny of the peoples here will start to laugh at you. OK, I will start to laugh at you.

10

Spanish is a fine and noble language but what specific part of the foregoing practical explanations re Spanish not being favored as the mode of communication on this board do you not understand? You have an absolutely amazing sense of expectation that, in addition to the expense running a free access message board, the Chicago Reader should provide multi-lingual translation services.

But wait! Maybe you’re right after all! The reader can barely feed the hamster powering the server as it is, even accessing some of the wealthiest per-capita nations on the face of the planet, but possibly…perhaps… maybe reaching out to big global village with multiple SDMB’s in all the tounges of the earth will…will…

ohhh…my head hurts. I’m going to bed.

11

Por favor infórmeme si sabe de algún foro en español que sea tan chulo como el éste.
(If you hear of a Spanish forum that’s as good as this one, let me know.)

Yo sinceramente tengo mis dudas en cuanto a si te expulsarían de una charla o de un foro hispanohablante sólo por escribir en inglés. He visto que se usa inglés todo el tiempo.
(I sincerely doubt that you would be kicked out of a Spanish chat room or message board just for using English. I’ve seen it used all the time.)

No hay cuestión de si la mayoría de los participantes entenderá mis mensajes, porque si alguien me pidiera la traducción yo se la proveería con mucho gusto.
(There’s no question about whether the majority of posters will understand my posts, because if anyone asks me for a translation I will provide it, happily.)

Yo sé que no tengo ningunos derechos con el Internet. Tampoco nadie tiene derecho a poder entender todo lo que vean.
(I know that I’m not entitled to anything from the Internet. Neither is anybody entitled to understand everything they see.)

BESOS PARA MI AMOR, MI CHULA VERDE

12

Oh no! It’s the censorship argument again!

>> I think it would be a good idea for the Reader to set up a message board for other languages

I think it would be a good idea for someone to buy me a new car since mine has blown a gasket.

13

¡Ja, ja, ja!!!
(Ha, ha, ha!!!)

No es un insulto, ni es una desgracia, ser burlado por los que tienen la mente cerrada.
(It is no insult or disgrace to be mocked by those with closed minds.)

HOLA AMOR

14

Dígame dónde se halla esa regla, por favor, y la obedeceré.
(Please tell me where that rule is, and I will obey it.)

Si Ud. ha estado leyendo y entendiendo mis mensajes sin problema, ¿por qué no ellos?
(If you have been been reading and understanding my posts without any problem, why can’t they?)

Sin duda, un par de conservadores.
(Conservatives, no doubt.)

¡Qué ofendida se pone la gente, por una sola sugerencia!
(How offended people get from a mere suggestion!)

BESOS Y ABRAZOS

15

See, another reason not to write threads solely in spanish is that it really pisses me off.

16

Since others have said it before I could get a chance to respond, I think you get the idea here, but for the official record, I’ll just hit the high spots :

1 : None of the moderators in MPSIMS speak Spanish. I realize that this is a great inconvenience for you, but it’s just something you’re going to have to deal with.

2 : Yes, we could run it through a babelfish translator but with all the reading we have to do here, we just don’t have the time.

3 : I realize that you are now providing a translation, but I have no basis on which to trust your translation.

4 : Therefore, the bottom line is (as someone else said before), if we can’t read it, we can’t moderate it.

5 : Having said this, and in answer to your question of what rule you are breaking, if you continue to do this, and continue to make our jobs more difficult for us, I will consider it blatant defiance of the “don’t be a jerk” rule.

Thank you,

Eutychus55

17

I totally agree with Euty here.

Threads in Spanish aren’t bad, as such. But they are damn annoying when Spanish isn’t one of the languages you understand. tclouie, you say

The key here is communication, and there can’t be communication if you don’t use a language the rest of us understand. Why should we have to get translations every time we want to read your posts? Why not start up your own Spanish-language message board, and leave us alone to our poor, deficient, mono-lingual ignorance?

Just had a thought. Providing translations is a nice idea. But you’re just making your posts longer than necessary, and eating up the ol’ bandwidth.

18

Oh, and for the BBQ Pit’s info, here’s the thread Euty closed

19

You might want to try a multilingual forum or someone can explain to you the concept of a search engine which will allow you to locate forums in Spanish. I input “foro español” into http://www.google.com and got “Results 1 - 10 of about 202,000. Search took 0.21 seconds.”

20

That’s pretty much why your argument here has failed: the Moderators aren’t insulted by you.

Draw your own conclusion from this comment–if you are able.