Re: [Fsfe-uk] List naming?

[E L Tonkin]

On 6 Aug 2001, MJ Ray wrote:

> Philip Hands <address@hidden> writes:
> 
> > fsfe-en doesn't narrow it down much geographically, does it?
> 
> No, but is this list about a geographic area or FSFE in a given
> language?  As originally stated, the former, I think, but would
> English-language discussion about FSFE in the Irish Republic be
> welcome here?  I would have thought so.

You're getting political all right... 

Asking these questions forces us to examine the exact point of the list in
a way that we maybe shouldn't. Of course, English-language FSFE
discussions from the Republic of Ireland would be welcome. Is that
'legally' the point of the list? ... well... 

Presumably we 'need' a region-specific list. In which case, the language
has nothing to do with it. But then you want this list to encompass
everybody speaking English in Europe, effectively (which is an odd idea,
since that's exactly what the English language FSFE discussion list
already does). That means that we'd have to start yet another list to
discuss region-specific stuff, or cope with the fact that we've just
generalised this list totally.

IMHO, FSF type people in the Republic of Ireland might feel that they
wanted their own list for discussions local to Ireland, and a subscription
to the UK list for discussions to do with the UK...

Personally, I'd avoid too much legality on this issue, since one of the
most inflammatory subjects in Europe is the exact location of state
boundaries, meaning of nationality, etc. It seems to be the major reason
for terrorist action, for one ;-) Just keep with the UK naming and see who
turns up? If it ends up including other English-speaking regions, then
it'll just be another badly named mailing list. Moreover just using
'fsfe-en' will have those ignorant of FSFE politics thinking it only
covers England - which will have the reverse effect to the one desired.

Of course, I partly say this out of pure laziness, since I can't be
bothered changing my procmailrc every fortnight ;-)

Em

Oh, and as for the .uk naming, it's established... I've seen sillier TLDs
than Ukraine's '.ua'. Personally my favourite ridiculous TLDs are all
the US ones, since they seem to have decided to take .com, .org and .net
rather than actually use the official .us... Better to choose a mildly
flawed system and use it than to waste half a year choosing a better one.