Re: Use of the first person in messages from the computer
On Thu, Feb 09, 2012 at 01:40:42PM +0100, Niels Thykier wrote:
> On 2012-02-09 13:20, Ian Jackson wrote:
> > I have just received a review by a l10n team of a package of mine.
> >
> > The reviewer seems to be under the impression that there is something
> > wrong with the computer speaking to the user in the first person. For
> > example:
> >
> >> [...]
>
> I suspect devref 6.5.2.5 is a (possible) source of this impression. As
> I recall, there are also some Lintian checks about using first person.
The computer is not a person. IMO, the use of first-person personal
pronouns such as "I" grate badly in the context of being used by the
computer. By all means refer to the user this way (e.g. "you"), but
I don't think Ian's opinion on the use of "I" is by any means
universal. It's by no means wrong, but I think such uses could be
phrased better.
Regards,
Roger
--
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