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from the How-many-slugs-to-the-stone? dept.
AnonTechie writes:
"I have the following requests to members of this new forum:
1) Please use SI Units wherever possible. Alternative comparative units such as swimming pools, size of Florida, cars, libraries of congress, etc are also welcome ...
2) Please cover tech/science related stories from around the world. Please do not make this a US only website !!
Cheers and best wishes,
AnonTechie"
[ED Note: We as a community welcome submissions from around the world, as befits our international userbase. The Editorial team in particular is looking closely at including voices from outside the U.S. as we continue to grow. As for the units question in particular, stories will certainly arrive with a variety of units depending on the origin of the submission. We encourage, though do not require, submitters to include conversions where appropriate for clarity out of courtesy to your fellow readers. Though we try to use a light touch when making edits to story submissions, Editors may add these from time to time as well, should clarity demand and time permit.
Soylentils, does the current ad-hoc approach meet your needs, or do you favor a more formal approach from your news discussion site?]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by evilviper on Monday February 24 2014, @12:11AM
It makes NO SENSE to use metric units for any US-only stories. It will cause readers who would otherwise understand the context, to immediately lose all reference points.
"The bus was traveling for 4 hours, headed from Los Angeles to Las Vegas at 96.56 km/h before the crash."
Now you've just confused the hell out of everybody. Anybody who knows the speed limits and distances involved is going to know them in miles and miles/hour (there are no KM on road signs). Those who don't know US measurements aren't going to have any context to understand the story in the first place. So now in one sentence you've written a story that needs a half-dozen footnotes for ANYBODY to understand anything about it.
And honestly, is there really no automatic solution for this, today? A little bit of javascript that'll look for units and convert them? A perl script that'll just add the opposite units in parenthesis for every submission? A site preference that'll change units based on locale? Why is this even a THING?
Do YOU see ALL home-page stories?
dev.soylentnews.org/search.pl?tid=1
github.com/SoylentNews/slashcode/issues/78
(Score: 2, Informative) by beckett on Monday February 24 2014, @01:28AM
Yes, the readers of the US, Burma and Liberia [cia.gov] will be so confused. the rest of the world can get by just fine, though. oh wait [elevenmyanmar.com], it's just US and Liberia now.
Gee, I wish there was some sort of offical declaration of a national policy of coordinating the increasing use of the metric system in the united states, and to establish a united states metric board to coordinate the voluntary conversion to the metric system [gpo.gov], say back in 1975?
(Score: 1, Troll) by evilviper on Monday February 24 2014, @01:55AM
You've completely missed the point...
Really? Everybody else in the world knows the distance AND speed limit on the roads between Los Angeles and Las Vegas? That's quite impressive. I would have put the number closer to zero.
Do YOU see ALL home-page stories?
dev.soylentnews.org/search.pl?tid=1
github.com/SoylentNews/slashcode/issues/78
(Score: 1) by beckett on Monday February 24 2014, @04:10AM
since you gave neither the distance nor the speed limit in your original post e.g.:
you're the one that's lost the plot.
Regarding the distance travelled before the crash, anybody on earth that took basic mathematics could tell you the bus travelled 386.24km in 4 hours headed from LA.
it's only the metric system for pete's sake; the same laws of arithmetics and physics apply.
(Score: 2) by evilviper on Monday February 24 2014, @07:31AM
That's the point... which I keep having to hit you over the head with... it's a US story. Most Americans can give you an approximate number for both without any effort. They will give it, however, in MILES, and will certainly not be able to compare it to any number given in KM.
I did not realize it before, but it seems the metric system causes some people to lose all ability of rational thought.
Do YOU see ALL home-page stories?
dev.soylentnews.org/search.pl?tid=1
github.com/SoylentNews/slashcode/issues/78
(Score: 1) by beckett on Monday February 24 2014, @10:57AM
non sequitor. considering that over a third of USA citizens cannot locate "America" on a map of the USA [huffingtonpost.com] I wouldn't be so quick to jump to the conclusion that people in the US would be able to tell you the distance.
there is nothing exceptional about the USA. you need to give the distance between LA and LV the same way another newspaper would give the distance between Paris and Dakar, even though that rally has been run for over 30 years.
and that's the point people from the rest of the world are trying to make
(Score: 1) by lhsi on Monday February 24 2014, @05:08AM
The simple way to avoid this issue is to not post US-only stories on a site with an international readership.
(Score: 1) by evilviper on Monday February 24 2014, @07:34AM
Good idea. It shouldn't take much effort to block all non-US IP addresses.
Do YOU see ALL home-page stories?
dev.soylentnews.org/search.pl?tid=1
github.com/SoylentNews/slashcode/issues/78
(Score: 1) by beckett on Monday February 24 2014, @11:01AM
Sounds like we wouldn't even have to make an effort to block USA IP addresses: we'd just have to start posting stories in metric and they'll run away in droves.