[WikiEN-l] A plea for sanity in capitalisation from the coalface

[Tony Wilson]

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)