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Dear Non-American Website User: You do not live in the United States of America. You think all American website owners are the same. And then you decide it mig

by edw519 17y ago

Dear Non-American Website User: You do not live in the United States of America. You think all American website owners are the same. And then you decide it might just be a good idea to lump the 95.4% who know what they're doing with those who don't. But you know, most American website owners are no more alike that most American <anything>. The moment you whine about the few to the many in a blog, two things do happen: - you irritate the people who know what they're doing - you don't reach the people you should If you don't like something about an American website, tell them, not the rest of us. That way, you're more likely to actually accomplish something. Which is, after all, the American way.

Vivtek 17y ago
Do you respond to other general advice to Website operators in the same way, or just to foreigners telling Americans what to do?
- Semiapies 17y ago
  An interesting point about tone. If this had been pitched as "sites do international addresses wrong" as opposed to "Americans do it wrong!", there'd probably be less defensiveness, less snideness, less "typical American can't read", etc.
  - Vivtek 17y ago
    Look, I'm an American, and having lived elsewhere, I've been bitten many a time by this kind of thoughtless antipattern. And when I am, I don't think, "Oh my, this Web designer of uncertain origin didn't study his field," I curse, moan, and wail, "Stupid bleeping Americans have failed again to understand the complexity of their world!" I don't know where you're from, obviously, but having grown up in Indiana, I'm all too aware of the oblivious American nature, and I find the original post entirely justified in its tone. As far as I'm concerned, the defensiveness here is good ol' American exceptionalism at work, and anybody who wants to have global business had better get over that. I second or third the notion that a nice library would be a Good Thing.
    - Semiapies 17y ago
      "I'm all too aware of the oblivious American nature" Correct, but it's only somewhat less parochial to assume that one's own country is uniquely oblivious to the rest of the world than to be oblivious to the rest of the world. After all, you were the first person in the thread to start pointing out how sites from other countries around the world fail in their own ways. The simple truth is that without being whapped in the face by alternate standards for things like address formats, people assume everyone else does things their way. That a Pole runs into this much more quickly than an American is a natural consequence of living in a smaller and less populous country with many nearby neighbors. "As far as I'm concerned, the defensiveness here is good ol' American exceptionalism at work" Please! I've dealt with too many people from other countries to buy that. When "outsiders" start criticizing people who identify with any nationality based on their nationality, those people usually react with defensiveness and hostility. Part of dealing with people from other countries is learning how not to provoke such reactions.

by edw519 17y ago

Vivtek 17y ago

Do you respond to other general advice to Website operators in the same way, or just to foreigners telling Americans what to do?

Semiapies 17y ago
An interesting point about tone. If this had been pitched as "sites do international addresses wrong" as opposed to "Americans do it wrong!", there'd probably be less defensiveness, less snideness, less "typical American can't read", etc.
- Vivtek 17y ago
  Look, I'm an American, and having lived elsewhere, I've been bitten many a time by this kind of thoughtless antipattern. And when I am, I don't think, "Oh my, this Web designer of uncertain origin didn't study his field," I curse, moan, and wail, "Stupid bleeping Americans have failed again to understand the complexity of their world!" I don't know where you're from, obviously, but having grown up in Indiana, I'm all too aware of the oblivious American nature, and I find the original post entirely justified in its tone. As far as I'm concerned, the defensiveness here is good ol' American exceptionalism at work, and anybody who wants to have global business had better get over that. I second or third the notion that a nice library would be a Good Thing.
  - Semiapies 17y ago
    "I'm all too aware of the oblivious American nature" Correct, but it's only somewhat less parochial to assume that one's own country is uniquely oblivious to the rest of the world than to be oblivious to the rest of the world. After all, you were the first person in the thread to start pointing out how sites from other countries around the world fail in their own ways. The simple truth is that without being whapped in the face by alternate standards for things like address formats, people assume everyone else does things their way. That a Pole runs into this much more quickly than an American is a natural consequence of living in a smaller and less populous country with many nearby neighbors. "As far as I'm concerned, the defensiveness here is good ol' American exceptionalism at work" Please! I've dealt with too many people from other countries to buy that. When "outsiders" start criticizing people who identify with any nationality based on their nationality, those people usually react with defensiveness and hostility. Part of dealing with people from other countries is learning how not to provoke such reactions.