Subject:
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Re: Local/native langauge forms of country names
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.admin.general
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Date:
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Wed, 30 Jun 1999 23:06:32 GMT
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Viewed:
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864 times
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In lugnet.admin.general, lehman@javanet.com (Todd Lehman) writes:
> [...]
> Unless lots of people are really having trouble with the localized names
> on the /loc/ page, I really have to consider this a non-issue. You're
> extremely intelligent...can you not memorize the native-language country
> names in about three and half minutes...?
I should back up a couple steps and explain the objectives of the /loc/
page. There are two at this stage:
1) For repeat visitors who know where they're going, it's a stepping stone
from the root homepage to the individual town or country groups that
they visit regularly. For example, I might take a path like this to
check in on three of the cities I pay closest attention to:
http://www.lugnet.com/
http://www.lugnet.com/loc/
http://www.lugnet.com/loc/us/
http://www.lugnet.com/loc/us/ma/
http://www.lugnet.com/loc/us/ma/bos/
http://www.lugnet.com/loc/us/mn/
http://www.lugnet.com/loc/us/mn/msp/
http://www.lugnet.com/loc/us/ca/
http://www.lugnet.com/loc/us/ca/sf/
In that scenario, I have to be able to locate and click "United States"
(or whatever my country name is) on the /loc/ page as quickly as
possible each time I visit the page. And the page should be relatively
compact and load quickly, since it is nothing more than a steppingstone.
2) For new visitors, especially those outside of the U.S., and especially
especially especially non-English speaking visitors, the page has to
communicate the impression that it represents an international and
multi-lingual area of the site. Most of the content below the blue
nav stuff at the top will appear in English because of the relative
quantities of English-speaking posters, but cluttering up the country
listings with English bastardizations of the names only detracts from
the multi-lingual aspect -- makes it look more like an English-only
site, and it mustn't appear as though English is the only language
welcome.
So those are the two (and the only two) objectives for the /loc/ page, at
this (still very, very early) stage in LUGNET's overall development. The
first point is satisfied quite well currently because anyone visiting deep
sub-areas repeatedly through that page will have no trouble navigating the
names on subsequent visits. The second point still needs satisfying in a
better way (less-prominent English, mainly, and probably a little GIF of the
globe or something), but it's probably pretty decent for now. More
important are the sub-sub areas like /loc/se/ and /loc/fr/ -- that they
ultimately either not contain any English or contain it only in a very
subdued way.
More than 80 people last Winter voted for the creation of a French-language
Usenet newsgroup fr.jeux.lego (counterpart to the English-language
rec.toys.lego), yet not a single person has ever yet posted anything -- in
English or in French -- to any of the lugnet.loc.fr.* groups. In fact, when
I went out of my way to actually point people there (via the
fr.usenet.forums.evolution group) everyone was sorely put off by all the
English.
This is an extremely serious disconnect.
The problem won't be solved simply by reducing the amount of English, but
I'm positive (in my gut) that increasing the amount of English in certain
areas is a very bad thing.
--Todd
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Local/native langauge forms of country names
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| Todd: Just like Larry, would I find it very useful to have the country names in my native language[1] on the /loc/ page. It is kind of messy to mix several languages on the same page. Even if it is just place names. How do you choose how to sort? (...) (25 years ago, 1-Jul-99, to lugnet.admin.general)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Local/native langauge forms of country names
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| (...) OK, you can get to the traffic page now pretty much from anywhere. (...) I'll hafta take some new screenshots before making the pictures clickable again. (...) Its purpose (always has been) simply as the introduction-point to the news-server (...) (25 years ago, 30-Jun-99, to lugnet.admin.general)
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