[mb-style] Is french silly? :p (French capitalization rules)

[Frederic Da Vitoria]

2006/7/28, Mangled <viapanda at gmail.com>:
> > It doesn't MAKE it good, but it is a factor. Prosecutor should beware:
> > he has worked too long with computers, he is starting to think binary
> > ;-)
>
> Caught red-handed :D
>
> > So to apply the rule, one has to know what is a non-verbal sentence
> > and recognize one asdsuch in french. I feel this is dangerous. Only
> > french-speaking users will be able to enter french titles. Imagine a
> > rule of the same complexity was used for english in MB!
>
> As I stated in another mail, you have to understand english to cap it
> properly in some cases (granted, they are rare, but they exist).
>
>
> > Remember, La Palice was french. To anyone who doesn't understand what
> > I am refering to, this is a typical french joke. See
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_de_la_Palice&e=10401
>
> Ha! So somebody noticed :D
>
> > >
> > > Who says that? Keschte? (*ping* Keschte)
> > > And no, it's not because of its (supposed) complexity, but because
> > > Guess Case doesn't understand grammar.
> > > The fact computer are bad at dealing with grammar (or semantic) is not
> > > an argument IMO.
> > >
> > > There are a lot of things computers are bad at doing.
> > >
> > > That's why we need human editors.
> >
> > I couldn't disagree more.
>
> Can you explain a bit?
Well, maybe I worked too long with computers too, but I tend to prefer
when a computer can do the checking automatically. It feels much
safer. For example, in English, it would be possible to design a
script that would browse all English titles and extract all the titles
that don't seem to comply to the rules.


> > the meaning will be the same. So apart from proper nouns and special
> > cases such as !eXistenZ et amaroK, I think anything could be
> > acceptable, as long as it is understandable.
>
> And looks good ;).

I agree, but I agree with mll, "Le Bon, la brute et le truand" does
not look good at all. This is quite silly. For non french-speaking
users, this means: "The Good, the bad and the ugly".


> > Now, let us look at the problem from another point of view, Olivier.
> > What would you do if a similar system was chosen for a widely used
> > language (english, german, italian, spanish...) which you don't
> > understand but you will want to enter titles in? Will you
> > 1-enter the tracks wrongly, hoping another user will correct them afterwards
> > 2-call a reference user to help you
> > 3-learn the language
> > 4-...?
> > And what would be the state of the database? Once again, what is the
> > use of a rule if there aren't enough users to enforce it?
>
> What I'm already doing.
> For german, I always drop on irc and ping Shepard.
> For spanish/portuguese, I have an agreement with another editor, and I
> just drop him a mail, I know he will look at it usually in 24-48
> hours.
>
> For english problems, I have a lot of choices, but nikki/Beth/Joan
> usually are there to help.
>
> Except english, I don't feel like editing alone (even on spanish I
> understand a bit).

Because you care. And you use IRC. What about the user who has just
bought a french album and wants to tag it for his mp3 device? Do you
think he will wait 24 hours for your answer about capitalization? I
don't think so. I am not even sure I would do it. I think I would
enter it the best I could in MB and say "If someone cares more, let
him find about it and edit it". That is exactly what I do with
Italian. Or Portuguese. Or English (though I have a feeling I have
understood the rules, here).

-- 
Frederic Da Vitoria