I participate in other forums, such as OPNsense, where a section for posts and tips in Portuguese was proposed and accepted, just like sections for other languages. I find it unreasonable to enforce a rule requiring posts to be in English, although I haven't read any specific OpenWrt forum rules regarding this criterion. I hope this proposal is evaluated.
What's wrong with Google translate?
There is currently no intention to split the forum into multiple languages. We have neither the native level moderator staff, nor would it facilitate communication - the downsides (it's technically a mess, how to present new/ unread posts, restrict searching to a language, it creates small little language islands without cooperation, it splits knowledge, etc. pp.) would massively outnumber the advantages. Judging from demand and forum activity, many other languages would probably take precedence over Portuguese by a far margin as well.
7 Likes
Again, I understand the arguments, setting aside the inappropriate and immature irony directed at Google Translate. I fully acknowledge the difficulties involved—it's not easy for anyone, including those who must adapt to the 'universal' language. I still stand by my proposal. In this case, should I take this as a refusal from the administrators?
Again, what's wrong with GT ?
People here use it all the time.
@slh provided an accurate picture of the complexities of managing multiple languages and it is consistent with the rationale for not providing language specific subsections on the forum.
That said, looking objectively at the issue, there are approximately 1.5B English speakers (native + second language) vs about 270M who speak Portuguese.
Portuguese is the 8th most common language. It would make more sense to support languages like Chinese, Hindi, and Spanish first, but as already stated, the logistical issues involved make this prohibitively complicated and will not be implemented here.
Google Translate and many other tools make translations trivially easy for individual users and does not require additional infrastructure and logistics on the side of the forum (which is all-volunteer).
1 Like
Look, if you didn't understand the post, will a translator be able to resolve your doubt? If it doesn't interest you, don't comment. Do you need a translator? 
I never find irony to be inappropriate nor immature 
Without irony there is no life. But now everybody has irony. Even this forum is now ironic. Everybody's in on the joke now. Everybody's hip. Nobody takes anything at face value anymore.(Apologies to John Waters)
1 Like
I agree and understand the arguments. So I'll accept the consensus response—that it won't be technically feasible. Thank you for the reply.
Everyone is free to give their opinion, even the impatient ones with no commitment. Screw it!
It would be able to help solve the Openwrt issues the non-english posters have, what I think, is irrelevant.
Look at this from the other angle.
Pretend you are asking a question and @frollic has the knowledge to help you solve the problem. If the language in which the question is asked is not one that @frollic understands, do you expect that you’d get a response? Imagine if you had to wait (and hope) for an answer is your specific language, with no guarantee that other speakers of said language might be actively reading this forum with the requisite knowledge to help. This goes for each language - not singling any specific one out here. English has the most number of global speakers which is why it is the standard on the forum.
You are always welcome to post your own language in addition to an English translation.
1 Like
Also keep in mind that the language spoken of a really large percentage of this forum cannot be represented in the latin alphabet (with or without the easy cases of 'just' accents or umlauts), Cyrillic or Chinese adds yet another dimension of complexity and barrier.
If you want the same kind of effort for everyone, we could also just revert to the forum language to its original Klingon.
taH pagh taHbe'
--
This post may contain traces of nuts, shellfish or irony, it may cause cancer in the state of California.
3 Likes
Honestly, I can understand the forum's guidance flow. With my limited knowledge, it's possible to resolve some OpenWrt issues. The idea behind the section is to help other users who are in app groups but rarely participate in the official forum, which is the proper place—especially since posts are publicly recorded for others to reference.
Once again: Although the proposal is honest, it ends up being more of the same. 
Quite a lot of routers discussed here are quite rare devices, with only few users spread over the world. By fragmenting the forum into several languages, they would never get any help at all, because the participants would never 'see' each other. Especially in regards to Portuguese, I don't even see the potential for a break even (the critical number of users necessary to keep a section alive), if I go by the percentage of users registering at this forum from Portugal or Brazil.
I have maintained a dual language (en/ de, with probably a 55:45 split, and being very inclusive towards en) forum for well over a decade, you will see an equal number of voices against this fragmentation, a feeling of being left out of discussions there as well.
Perhaps you're right, or perhaps not. We don't know. We don't even dare to find out.
If we had a massive group of multi-lingual volunteer moderators, something like you propose would be feasible. However, that is not the case. We barely get by on who we have and they do an immense amount of really good work. If only we had the same kind of moderation available on the Wiki as we did a few years ago, we would be in better shape. Your suggestion has been considered and it has been concluded that it will not be acted on. Please accept that decision.
4 Likes
Yes, I accept the decision. Thank you for the response and the constructive dialogue, particularly to those who genuinely considered the proposal.
