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In my opinion you need to use a better term than grandfathered. I think you have a different understanding of the term than the general population. Grandfathere

by dfc 12y ago

In my opinion you need to use a better term than grandfathered. I think you have a different understanding of the term than the general population. Grandfathered is not used to distinguish early adopter, developer partner, platinum/double diamond customer loyalty card, etc from the general customer pool. As witnessed in the comment below grandfathered users are the population of users that do not get screwed by a new policy. I think you should take a look at the wikipedia page for grandfather clauses and reassess if you think this is a word you want to associate with a new feature: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandfather_clause https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandfather_clause Thanks, dfc. English speaking potential customer

asb 12y ago
Initially they had no bandwidth charges. Upon introducing them, the customer base was "grandfathered" in to free bandwidth. I assume this is the set of customers they are referring to, so it doesn't kind of make sense...but only if familiar with the history of DO.
- dfc 12y ago
  Here is the deal: You cannot "grandfather" a newly created privilege to a select population--a population that never received the privilege before--if for no other reason than the privilege did not exist in the past. The grandfather bit is not only a connection to the origin of the term but also a hint about proper usage: people in the past (grandma could not vote) must have been able to and did enjoy the privilege at some point in the past. I did not want to come off like a strict scrutiny word maven (synonym: dickhead) when I wrote my first comment because it would obscure the larger point: "grandfathered clauses" have negative connotations for new/potential customers. My goal was to be helpful and not to strut my lexicographic tail feathers.
  - neom 12y ago
    pedantic might be a better synonym. ;)
neom 12y ago
Grandfathered is an internal term that, to be honest, we didn't expect to see on hackernews, grandfathered for us refers to customers that will never be billed for bandwidth as when we started we offered unlimited bandwidth plan. Users who are grandfathered just typically tend to be our beta group, as they well know. :) John, Chief Technology Evangelist, DigitalOcean.

by dfc 12y ago

asb 12y ago

Initially they had no bandwidth charges. Upon introducing them, the customer base was "grandfathered" in to free bandwidth. I assume this is the set of customers they are referring to, so it doesn't kind of make sense...but only if familiar with the history of DO.

dfc 12y ago
Here is the deal: You cannot "grandfather" a newly created privilege to a select population--a population that never received the privilege before--if for no other reason than the privilege did not exist in the past. The grandfather bit is not only a connection to the origin of the term but also a hint about proper usage: people in the past (grandma could not vote) must have been able to and did enjoy the privilege at some point in the past. I did not want to come off like a strict scrutiny word maven (synonym: dickhead) when I wrote my first comment because it would obscure the larger point: "grandfathered clauses" have negative connotations for new/potential customers. My goal was to be helpful and not to strut my lexicographic tail feathers.
- neom 12y ago
  pedantic might be a better synonym. ;)

neom 12y ago

Grandfathered is an internal term that, to be honest, we didn't expect to see on hackernews, grandfathered for us refers to customers that will never be billed for bandwidth as when we started we offered unlimited bandwidth plan. Users who are grandfathered just typically tend to be our beta group, as they well know. :) John, Chief Technology Evangelist, DigitalOcean.