Magnus Manske wrote:
As a scientist, I have to insist that the metric
system is to be the
main system used on Wikipedia! (Of course, feel free to mention
miles&co. somewhere too;-)
I have no opposition to including the metric system, and especially in
scientific articles. But in many articles, Americans will have a hard
time understanding unless English equivalents are given.
I would certainly oppose any idea that the Metric system is better
than English (it isn't, and for many purposes it's provably worse),
and going further, even if Metric were better, it isn't the role of
wikipedia to push it on people. (The government in the U.S. has been
trying since I was a little kid to encourage the use of Metric, but
with only tiny impact.)
So, I would say that in cases where Americans expect to see miles and
gallons, we should give both miles/kilometers and gallons/liters.
And similarly, of course, in cases where Europeans and British and
Aussies and others expect to see kilometers and liters, we should give
those, as well.
--Jimbo