Ray wrote: "Although I am usually responsive to blaming the Americans for everything, it needs to be remarked that the capitalist charge in this matter has been led by an Australian" - which made me smile. The irony is that I also tend to blame the Americans for everything - and in this context, I blame them for *not* capitalising things when they ought to! So perhaps we had best categorise this particular Australian as one of Little Johnny Howard's "American Deputy Sherrifs in South-east Asia." .... Err - sorry, Jimbo. I know - no politics on the list. :)
Enough humour. When Ray wrote that "the problem ... operates on two levels" and that "as long as it is only on a stylistic level ..." he missed the point. It is *not* only stylistic, nor indeed even primarily stylistic: it is a matter of clear, unabiguous, and accurate communication. There are many long-tailed shrikes, but only one Long-tailed Shrike. It is not a matter of 'preffered styles", but a matter of a precise and correct name or a vague and incorrect name.
However, Ray's third point raises a significant issue. Creating lower-case redirects to entries that are (quite properly) capitalised involves a good deal of attention to detail - something that I can speal with authority about, as I have spent 20 or 30 hours attending to this stuff in the four days or so, It is tedius and a small number of mistakes will undoubtedly have slipped through. A technical solution would indeed be very welcome. The obvious starting point would be a search function that works. I understand that that matter is high on the developers' priority list, and wish them every success in the quest. Pending that (or more comprehensive technical solutions), it seems we will just have to rely on the trusty old Mark 1 Eyeball.
Tony Wilson (Tannin)
Tony Wilson wrote:
Ray wrote: "Although I am usually responsive to blaming the Americans for everything, it needs to be remarked that the capitalist charge in this matter has been led by an Australian" - which made me smile. The irony is that I also tend to blame the Americans for everything - and in this context, I blame them for *not* capitalising things when they ought to! So perhaps we had best categorise this particular Australian as one of Little Johnny Howard's "American Deputy Sherrifs in South-east Asia." .... Err - sorry, Jimbo. I know - no politics on the list. :)
I can never pass up a good opportunity for a bad pun. This was a chance to look at capitalism with an entirely fresh meaning. :-)
Enough humour. When Ray wrote that "the problem ... operates on two levels" and that "as long as it is only on a stylistic level ..." he missed the point. It is *not* only stylistic, nor indeed even primarily stylistic: it is a matter of clear, unabiguous, and accurate communication. There are many long-tailed shrikes, but only one Long-tailed Shrike. It is not a matter of 'preffered styles", but a matter of a precise and correct name or a vague and incorrect name.
The problem here is in insisting that there is only one way to do things. My personal preference would be to put all these animal articles under the Latin binomial. That option would be the least vague and least ambiguous of all, but I haven't had much of a following in this. As I said in a previous post your position tends to be most adamantly held by birders than by any other students of life forms; the opposite point of view tends to be favoured by grammarians. It is once again a matter of POV's. Certainly the issue does not carry the heavy emotional baggage of many of the political issues that have flared up, but it is a POV issue nevertheless. How do you choose in a battle between lexicologists and ornithologists?
However, Ray's third point raises a significant issue. Creating lower-case redirects to entries that are (quite properly) capitalised involves a good deal of attention to detail - something that I can speal with authority about, as I have spent 20 or 30 hours attending to this stuff in the four days or so, It is tedius and a small number of mistakes will undoubtedly have slipped through. A technical solution would indeed be very welcome. The obvious starting point would be a search function that works. I understand that that matter is high on the developers' priority list, and wish them every success in the quest.
This was indeed my most important point since it affects such a wide range of articles well beyond avian capitalism (or Avian Capitalism). Using Tony's distinction, very few of the terms that he would put with lower case letters would lead to articles anyway so why not use re-directs? It's as effective a temporary measure as any.
Unfortunately, even though I can envision how I would like to see this sort of thing work I have to admit to a complete lack of technical expertise to apply this in out multilingual environment.
Eclecticology