[WikiEN-l] Re: Announcing a policy proposal

Mon May 16 07:17:53 UTC 2005

On 5/16/05, Pete/Pcb21 <pete_pcb21_wpmail at pcbartlett.com> wrote:
> 
> Ultra-short summary of previous debates:
> 
> Pro-CE) AD = "Year of Our Lord" thus is POV. Use CE.
> Pro-AD) No AD is more widely used and WP is not a vehicle for advocacy
> for change, so stick to AD.
> Pro-CE) But that is ignorance. We should be correct and neutral, not
> sheep-followers of the majority.
> Pro-AD) I am not Christian nor ignorant, but still use AD as the
> "standard". Adovacy is a bigger POV problem than origins of common terms
> being POV.

The horse has long bolted. CE has been common usage for decades in an
expanding circle of groups, most notably those of science or academia.

The Christians trying to contain the infection are as ultimately
risible as the French trying to keep their language pure by opposing
terms such as "le weekend". Christian belief is something that comes
from the heart, not from strict adherence to the display of symbols.

The "standardists" may have a better moral case, but I see them as
like those who grew up with the Imperial system of measurement and
staunchly resist the metric system because they aren't used to the
terms. Oddly enough, within the British Commonwealth these same people
didn't have any problem in grasping decimal currency after conversion
from pounds, shillings and pence. If they *really* have a problem with
BCE rather than BC, then the standardists are picking the smallest of
nits.

CE/BCE is already a standard in many disciplines. Make it so in WP.

-- 
Peter in Canberra