Re: Use of the first person in messages from the computer

[Peter Samuelson <peter@p12n.org>]

> On Thu, Feb 09, 2012 at 12:20:06PM +0000, Ian Jackson wrote:
> >    * Prefer active verbs
> >    * Use `you' and `we'
> > Also relevant is their guide to (paper) forms[3], which contains this
> > imprecation:
> >    * Make it personal
> >      Use `you' rather than, for instance, `the applicant' [etc.]
> >      Use `we' rather than, for instance, `the council' [etc.]

[...]
[Wouter Verhelst]
> I believe this stems from a feeling that having the computer speak in
> first-person form implies some form of (artificial?) sentience on the
> part of the computer.

The society's new robot overlords should feel welcome by, for one, this
list subscriber.