Post #2299005

2026-05-07 14:07 UTC

RE: https://mstdn.ca/@jdlh/116531949674146227 Let’s say I switch my handle to Japanese and people want to mention me (without replying to one of my posts). How are they supposed to do that if they 1) can’t read Japanese, and 2) don’t have the Japanese keyboard installed, even if they could read it? The expectation is for them to go to my profile and copy/paste every single time? Or are we assuming that 100% of interactions will be replies? “Inclusive” is a nice buzzword, but the Latin alphabet (only 26 letters!) has its advantages.

Replies (2)

@philip@mastodon.mallegolhansen.com 2026-05-07 14:17

@agnes@pdx.social Same could be said in reverse for people who don’t read English no?

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@jdlh@mstdn.ca 2026-05-07 20:26

@agnes@pdx.social Good point. But consider whose convenience you are centring. It is the person who 1) can't read my language and 2) wants to communicate _between_ language communities. Consider instead the grandparent who reads my language, but not English, and wants to communicate _within_ their language community. (And, Thai or Arabic may be better examples than Japanese, because they use Latin letters less.) For them, a handle which they can easily read and type is much easier than a foreign one they have to decode. And I suspect that communication within language communities is much more common than between language communities. "Inclusive" means including more people when designing systems. Even people not like the designers.

Open ##2450599