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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

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.

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.