Open Letter: How the FOSS Community May Help Disabled Users

[Les Mikesell]

On Fri, 2006-04-28 at 18:15, Jeff Vian wrote:

> > > I would never ask someone from a different area to change their language
> > > use just to satisfy me.
> > 
> > I think you are missing the point.  If someone wants Linux to
> 
> Hardly.
> 
> > be able to compete against commercial software then it has to
> > compete on the acceptability and political correctness fronts
> > as well.  I realize a lot of people don't care one way or the
> > other and in the free software world market share doesn't matter
> > but at least they should recognize that the issue exists.  That
> > is, commercial software and the people promoting it do make
> > concessions to satisfy the potential customers.
> 
> Sometimes.
> My post was about the attitude of one poster, and his demand for
> politically correct terminology and not about the topic that started
> this thread.

They go together.  If you want to promote the use of something
you have to respect the sensibilities of the audience even
if you don't always agree with them.
 
> > > You are free to reply with the terms you prefer, just as Marco is free
> > > to use the phrases he wishes.
> > 
> > And the potential users are free to avoid dealing with people using
> > phrases they dislike and the products they handle.
> > 
> That is my point exactly.

And my point is that they will.  And 15 years from now you'll
still be wondering why schools and governments are wasting your
tax money on commercial software when functional free alternatives
exist.

> Pandering to the demanding is just that,
> pandering. 

If you think of it as respecting customs different than your
own you might understand it differently.

>  It is to a great extent detrimental to the overall
> community.  Keeping the atmosphere friendly and welcoming is much better
> than trying to set artificial rules about what one can or cannot say
> and/or how they say it.

Rules aren't the point.  It is a matter of respect to use the
terminology customary for the listener.

> Being a bit understanding and recognizing that others have their own
> standards makes the atmosphere more open and easier to deal with and
> invites participation.  

That was exactly the original point...

> Having the attitude that "you have to meet my personal standards" (which
> is what I responded to) is not in any way productive and is instead
> terribly negative.

Nobody said anything like that - you are one calling respect for
others choices 'pandering'.

> It seems many others felt my point was exactly on target. Too bad you
> are not as open minded. 
> Telling them to go away as you did with the phrase above is not helpful
> at all.

I'm confused - what I said was that others will go away if you
alienate them by insisting on using your own preferred terms
knowing that they may be considered politically incorrect or
perhaps even insulting.  And it is not in your interest for
them to go away.

-- 
  Les Mikesell
   lesmikesell at gmail.com