Variants in English on the English Citizendium.

[Aleta Curry]

I think we need to put in place a mechanism for allowing the variant of English to be change in the event of a major contribution.

Good point.

Geez, Louise!  NO!!!  

It sounds like you fellows haven't had the unfortunate experience Brian and I have, of SERIOUS, incessant and often stupid fights over this kind of thing.

Decide it once, and forget it.  I'm not kidding.

If the decision was already made before you got there--live with it.
Look, if you were invited to publish a brilliant tome in a reputable, professional Japanese journal, would you argue that your article had to be printed in English?  Of course not.  Same thing applies here.

Having the dialectic determined once and for frickin' all, at an early stage, end of story, means we can focus on more important things, like improving the quality of the article. ... I'll just write the way I write, trying to remember to use Britishisms/not use Americanisms. I'll likely fail at least to some degree, and someone will tidy it up later

And, of course, you would drop a little note on the Talk page as the policy suggests:  "I've just edited and request double checking to verify that edits are consistent with article dialect." And you sign and date.  That's all, folks; nothing more traumatic or difficult than that.

[Chris Day]

Look, if you were invited to publish a brilliant tome in a reputable, professional Japanese journal, would you argue that your article had to be printed in English? 

What i want to know is why wouldn't they accept it in English? And if it is translated to Japenese will the translator understand the nuances between American and English english? 

It was still a good point, but, as you show, amenable to every pain in the ass editor who is keen on gaming the system.

[Martin Baldwin-Edwards]

My personal experience [usually involving Spanish and Greek, rather than Japanese] is that they would NOT publish in English. The quality of the translation is an issue, but... This is a reality of the world, that we need to use different languages. Just be grateful that it is not so difficult to cope with variants of one language! I agree with Aleta that it would be a mistake to start putting in exceptions to general principles. Maybe I can incorporate a general provision that the Editor-in-Chief can over-ride things, but then people would complain that Larry has too much power anyway....

The other problem is that these rules are already too complex. Please stop trying to predict every possible nuanced situation: no set of rules can cope with everything, without becoming impossible to use.

[Martin Baldwin-Edwards]

Here is my revised version. It is not supposed to cover local dialects, or weird things which people can dream up: it is just a policy. If there is nothing seriously wrong with it, it can be presented to the Editorial Council soon.


ENGLISH LANGUAGE ETIQUETTE ON CITIZENDIUM

CONSIDERING that all international variants of the English language (e.g. US English, UK English, Australian English, Canadian English) have equal validity on Citizendium;
WHEREAS certain international differences of spelling, grammar and syntax are incompatible with each other within a single article;
DESIRING that CZ should be accessible to all users of the English language, whether as authors or readers;

The following rules should be observed by all authors and editors:
(1)   Each article will be written in a specific variant of English, which will be determined by the first author who develops it beyond the category of stub. The English variant should be notated on the Talk page; the technical way to do this will be specified elsewhere.
(2)   Subsequent contributors to that article should try to conform with the usage, where this is possible. Where it is not, authors should request on the Talk page for a native speaker to adjust the spelling, style etc. of their contribution.
(3)   Alternative spellings and usages should be included in the article text when there is potential for confusion or ambiguity. This would not normally include trivial spelling differences, such as color-colour, labeled-labelled, paediatric-pediatric, etc.
(4)   Where the topic of the article has different regional spellings, the first author (beyond a stub) will select the specific English variant, as in (1) above. Alternative spellings will redirect to that as the primary spelling, although it may be necessary to indicate regional differences of spelling or usage within the article. Whenever possible, authors are requested to use common dialect-neutral names for the primary spelling.
(5)   Where the name of the topic of the article differs regionally, e.g. aubergine-eggplant, the first variant written beyond a stub will be the primary article and others will redirect to it. (Again, authors are asked to use available dialect-neutral words as the primary spelling.)
(6)   In rare cases, when it is unclear that regional names refer to identical things (e.g. French fries and chips), there may be two separate articles, although they should refer to each other.
(7)   As a transitional measure, for articles existing before the development of this policy, the language variant for each page will be determined and noted on the Talk page by area Editors or Authors.
(8 )   Exceptionally, the Editor-in-Chief has the authority to reset the language variant for any particular article.

[briandelaney]

Martin- Looks great! (Sorry I've been away for a bit.) Everyone agreed it should be sent on to the Editorial Council? -B

[Martin Baldwin-Edwards]

I think there is no significant dissent, so will do so shortly.

[Martin Baldwin-Edwards]

The etiquette, as detailed above, is now before the Editorial Council as Resolution 0005.

[Aleta Curry]

Works for me.

[Stephen Ewen]

By the way, in practice, this policy proposal was already followed on Butler.  Worked well. 

[Aleta Curry]

...but not perfectly.

Still, practice makes perfect!

[Stephen Ewen]

Oh, the time! 

[Aleta Curry]

Catalogue!!!   

[Martin Baldwin-Edwards]

I changed the spelling to Catalog when I was editing it, as the majority of articles on CZ are with the US spelling. References to articles outside the actual article should reflect the reality, not the variant of English.

[Derek Harkness]

Isn't this an instance where we should be piping the link:

[[Catalog of butlers and valets|Catalogue of butlers and valets]]

[Martin Baldwin-Edwards]

I don't know what piping means, what it does, or how to do it, Derek Can you explain and/or do this for us?