User talk:PoidLover

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Please stop using profanity and attacking other editors. Any such further conduct will lead to a block. All editors are expected to be during any discussions. Seraphimblade Talk to me 09:48, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] British Spelling...

Just to respond to your point here (you said you didn't know where to start). First of all, .com is an international domain name, which stands for commercial. Wikipedia is an international site. Secondly, there is Wiki policy that articles dealing with American topics have American English spellings, and articles about British stuff have British English spellings. If White House has British spellings in it, by all means change them to the US ones.
Your point about the British only using British spelling is invalid also. It is true that US spellings outnumber UK spellings, but still a large amount of people outside the UK use British spellings (the Commonwealth mainly, and Ireland).
Also, regarding your sentence "But every other English-speaking country used the standard spelling, which is generally based on how the word actually sounds" is also untrue. Take the word color/colour. It is really pronounced culler, so neither version is correct. Same for many other spelling variants.
You're new to Wiki I presume (welcome, by the way) - but just don't make rants about stuff you don't know much about. -- Boothman /tɔːk/ 21:35, 23 May 2007 (UTC).

Your rebuttal is laughable. First and foremost, American English is not Standard English (in fact there's no such thing). And why should AmE have precedence over BrE? Does having the English language written in many styles (all mutually intelligible) make the encyclopaedia any less informative? In fact, I prefer it written in many styles because it enhances my knowledge of other dialects.
Here's an example of one: pAEdophile - please, please, please check your facts in future! Paedophile is pronounced peedo-file in BrE - the ae is a split-up version of the letter æ, which itself was formed from the Greek ai. The root ped is in fact a word meaning foot, so "pedophilia" by all accounts would be a foot fetish. 1-0 to BrE. And just to even things up, imagine the word catologue/catolog - the ogue is an unneeded French creation, the original Greek is "log-os", so the AmE is more logical here. 1-1.
The things I am trying to get across to you is neither no version of English is better than the other, and no version should be the only one used on Wiki. -- Boothman /tɔːk/ 22:27, 23 May 2007 (UTC).
Poidlover, either you inherently believe your own arguments are gospel no matter what the facts say - or you are an absolute idiot. I'm sure 99% of folks that are involved with linguistics on WP would back me up on that. One or the other Poid. Let's just repeat the facts, with citations:
You are not going to changes this, as there have been many, many discussions written about this subjects. Consensus (you know, the thing Wikipedia runs on) says to keep it this way. By the way, your statement "You seem to think that this is some sort of "battle of the dialects" (lol), and seem to think that this is what I seem to think (now, that's redundant!) as well, but as I've CLEARLY stated, this is not so" is again laughable. You state one thing, yet contradict yourself in the very argument. Please go away now. -- Boothman /tɔːk/ 15:29, 24 May 2007 (UTC).
PoidLover, I disagree with your proposal about spelling, but I also disagree with Boothman's suggestion that you go away. I hope that, after your block ends, you'll resume editing, but less tendentiously.
As for the spelling question: We have more than 1.8 million articles on the English-language Wikipedia. You believe that, when Wikipedia was founded in 2001, it should have adopted a policy of using only American spellings. Whether you're right or wrong about 2001, it's really too late to change it. Please don't revive your analogy to the abolition of slavery. Instead, just explain to me who's going to make all those articles consistent with your proposed new policy. Consider the editor time it would take -- and add the editor time that we'd no longer have available if some of the Brits stomped off in a huff. That represents a lot of resources that could be used to improve the substance of a lot of articles. It's a question of which of those two projects (AE spelling throughout or making substantive improvements) would do the most for the encyclopedia. To me, it's clearly the latter.
If the consistency of presentation is so important to you, I have a suggestion. The MoS includes this noncontroversial guideline: "Whole numbers from zero to ten should be spelled out as words in the body of an article." (Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers)#Numbers in words) As someone for whom numerals in text are a pet peeve, I can assure you that this guideline is often violated. As a result, Wikipedia is inconsistent between "Every four years...." (correct) and "Every 4 years...." (incorrect). The difference between four and 4 is more noticeable than any of the spelling differences, too. You can improve our consistency of presentation by seeking and correcting those errors, and you won't have to put up with all this arguing and the resultant harsh words and ill will. In fact, if someone disputes your substitution of four for 4, the same MoS stalwarts who are opposing you on the spelling issue will rush to your defense. JamesMLane t c 07:21, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Please remain civil

PoidLover and Boothman, I'd like to ask you both to remain WP:CIVIL and to refrain from making personal attacks. Language like "your rebuttal is laughable", "(...) or you are an absolute idiot", "you disgusting cretin" and "you are one fucking dumbass idiot" is clearly out of bounds. Stuff like this could get you blocked from editing.

Please stay WP:COOL when the editing gets hot.

Regards, Phaunt 22:12, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Talk page guidelines

Sorry, but you can't dictate how a talk page is to be run, no matter how bold and CAPITALISED your requests are and how many exc!amat!on marks they use. Bold and capitalised text is regarded as shouting and considered impolite. On WP:TALK you can see that in some cases it is perfectly sensible to reply to a single point of discussion, as Snalwibma did. Even if you decide to refactor the talk page (which I don't agree with), people will be more amenable to your point of view if you don't just remove the comment as you did (replacing it with more shouting), but move it to the spot where you'd like to see it. Phaunt 22:42, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

I see you deleted my comment, in which I tried to make it clear that I was being sarcastic and not supporting your ill-conceived and ill-informed "movement". I will assume this was an error, not an underhand attempt to make it appear that you had some support - which you do not. I have put it back - in the most appropriate place. Please do not delete it again. Snalwibma 22:46, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] varieties of spelling

Wikipedia_talk:Manual_of_Style#Calling_for_a_movement_to_eliminate_American_spelling_on_Wikipedia. I started the section as a counter to the ridiculous stuff going on above on that page. You didn't sign on my page. Tony 05:33, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Blocked

Sorry, but after reviewing your recent contributions (for example: [1]), it appears you have no intent of changing your behavior or refraining from making personal attacks. Accordingly, you have been blocked again. Seraphimblade Talk to me 06:43, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Yay

Rood giddance to rad bubbish. -- Boothman /tɔːk/ 12:08, 25 May 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Summary

Hi, I just thought I ought to summarise all the problems that have been noted in your section/rant (whatever you wish to call it). If you want to read the rest of my opinion (I admit it's very strongly opposed to your views), see my talk page. Bennelliott • Talk • Contributions

1 Britain is the only English-speaking country that uses their own unique variation of the English language, and in British contexts, that's usually fine.

Wrong - American English is the "unique" variation, not British English. Other varieties tend to be simply due influence from other languages spoken in countries, or are somewhere in between AmE and BrE (or Commonwealth), in the case of Canada for example.
Of course, if you ask me, we (referring to England) have been speaking English a hell of a lot longer than any other country today (hence the name), and out of all of these countries, the US is the only one that has radically differentiated from BrE, and influences other nations English usage with them differences.

2 But every other English-speaking country used the standard spelling, which is generally based on how the word actually sounds, and that should be the standard that Wikipedia uses.

Wrong - AmE is not the standard, nor is BrE for that matter. AmE is not based on how it sounds ( in "color" for example, the -or is not supposed to sound like "or" (IPA ɔː(r)), but in AmE it's spelt that way. )

3 It makes absolutely no sense to use one country's variation of dialect, no matter how BIG, important, or "popular" it is, and completely disregard the rest of the English-speaking world's correct usage of the language.

Wrong - AmE is not completely disregarded, and if you ask many Briton, the US tends to act with less modesty and moderation than the UK.

4 In fact, pretty much every article that contains a word that differs between the two dialects, the British version is favoured. This, also, makes absolutely no sense. If the majority of a population speaks and/or writes a certain way, then it's institutions, endorsements, and websites should speak/write that certain way, too.

Wrong - All articles that I've ever seen that are somehow to do with the US use AmE, and quite often it's favoured on other country's pages too - I've even seen it favoured on Commonwealth pages.

5 It is understandable if this website was: www.wikpedia.co.uk, because that assumes that this is a primarily UK website. But, this website is: www.wikipedia.com, so it should follow the standard dialect that other ".com" use.

Wrong - .com is not solely the US - as has been said above, it stands for commercial.

6 Hey this is my page, if you have a problem with that, then I'll be happy to discuss how I'm right with you. Anyways, the main issue right now I would like to address is the issue about British vs Standard English (A.K.A - American) writing.

As has been noted above, those statements are wrong in so many ways. AmE is not the standard - never has been, never will be.


Please sign my page and not refer to the "mistakes" I made in the larger paragraph of my talk page. If you want to see the whole discussion, request that it be restored on the MOS talk page, for someone deleted it. Also, I got banned from editing by a British moderator, I assume it's because he didn't like what I was doing. However, I'm contacting his superiors and hopefully just action will be imposed on him.--PoidLover 18:43, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

I did sign, and good luck with that. Bennelliott • Talk • Contributions 21:30, 26 May 2007 (UTC)


Is that sarcasm I'm detecting? I can report you for that you know.--PoidLover 21:36, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Please try to adopt a less aggressive stance. You'll get nowhere this way. Phaunt 09:15, 27 May 2007 (UTC)
Sarcasm, yes. Once again, good luck with reporting sarcasm. Seriously. Bennelliott • Talk • Contributions 13:42, 27 May 2007 (UTC)


If I'm not aggressive, then I'm a passive pushover. All the best world leaders were/are aggressive, as well as many corporate CEO's. If you're not aggressive, you'll get nowhere in life. —Preceding unsigned comment added by PoidLover (talk • contribs) 19:58, 27 May 2007

I agree with you there, but only if you mean aggressive in the sense that you try very hard and are determined, but if you mean aggressive in the sense of conversation, I have to disagree. Anyway, that's totally irrelevant to me because it was someone else's comment. Bennelliott • Talk • Contributions 20:39, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] New Zealand and Australia

Just passing through - I'm from New Zealand, and I'd like to point out that we and Australia use a spelling system that is by and large identical to the British one. You seem to be under the impression that only Britain uses British English - this is clearly not true. Dissimul 12:28, 16 October 2007 (UTC)