Date:         Wed, 3 May 1995 21:33:21 -0600 (CDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Jerry Dunham <dunham@devnull.mpd.tandem.com>
Subject:      Re: German Wants To Join!

]Date: Wed, 26 Apr 95 03:14:06 CDT
]From: Thomas Schuster <schuster@mzes.sowi.uni-mannheim.de>
]
]
]On Tue, 25 Apr 1995, Jerry Dunham wrote:
]
]> What's the big deal about getting (or not getting) Germans on this list?
]> The Atari groups I frequent have nearly as many Germans on them as
]> Americans, and that's an American product, fer cryin' out loud.  I'd
]> think a list devoted to a German product would find Germans dominating.
]> Where are they all hiding?
]
]Sometimes, I asked this question, too. In fact, there were several "real" 
]Germans joining the list in the past, but most of them disappeared after some 
]days or weeks. I think, there are several reasons for this phenomenon.
]
]First of all, especially at the beginning it is very difficult to follow 
]the conversation with all this strange vocabulary and abbreviations an 
]average German does not know: tranny, CV joint, pushrod tubes... And all
]this stuff you do not find in an ordinary dictionary.
]
]Secondly, there are really lots of messages every day. And you must be 
]rather enthusiastic to work through all this stuff.
]
]Thirdly, concerning computer networks, I have the impression that Germany 
]is a "developing country" compared to the States. There are just not 
]many bus owners who have access to the Net.

Then I must ask why Germans are such a large part of the Atari groups
(mail lists and newsgroups).  There they either carry on in German or
demonstrate that they have a far better command of our language than most
of us will ever have of theirs.  There are just as many esoteric words
used to describe Atari hardware and software as are used here.  And I
don't understand why they would be considered a "developing country" here
but not in the Atari world.  SOMEthing else is different.  The only thing
I can think of is that this group has a much more social orientation, and
anyone only interested in the technical aspects of bus ownership has to
wade through all of that to find what he wants.  It's there in the Atari
groups as well, but less so.  Any other theories?

(I guess if I'm gonna see the response to this I'd better get resub-
scribed, since I fell off sometime over the past few days when my mail
system offended Gerry's somehow.)


-- 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Jerry Dunham, MSE          hoosier@rider.cactus.org           (512)432-8598
Tandem Computers, Inc.        Atarian ordinaire       dunham@isd.tandem.com
Integrity Systems Division         GS650G           dunham_jerry@tandem.com

                          Celibacy is not hereditary.