User talk:It-Not-They

Hello
Hello, and welcome to editing Wikipedia. I have seen your user page, and I thought I would offer you the following thoughts. Obviously, it's up to you what you make of them.

Personally, I totally share your opinion about the use of plural verbs with singular subjects referring to groups or organisations. I squirm whenever I encounter "the government are considering legislation", "Spain are to play against Germany", and similar expressions. However, whatever you and I might prefer, unfortunately that usage is now widely accepted, and you will make little if any headway in trying to promote a prescriptive view of language on Wikipedia. There is a very solidly established principle that Wikipedia seeks to reflect the English language as it is actually used, not as you or I or anyone else thinks it should be used.

Is there any objective reason why dismissing the opinions of "social justice warriors" is more justifable than dismissing those of what might be called "traditional English warriors"? Again, I am referring not to your or my opinions as to the merits of the respective points of view, but to objective reasons. Both cases are concerned with a category of people who hold particular views as to what is desirable, with which others disagree. JBW (talk) 19:02, 6 September 2021 (UTC)

When I wrote the message above I had seen only your user page. I have now seen the one article edit you have made. Almost all of the changes you made were either unambiguously corrections or matters of stylistic judgement with which I agree, so thanks for your help. However, there was one change that you made which was mistaken, and it may help you if I warn you about it. Wikipedia does not give preference to any national style of English over another, and one should not replace one national style with another, unless there is a specific reason for preferring a particular national standard in a particular article. The commonest justification for doing so is that in an article relating specifically to one particular country it is reasonable to use the version of English recognised in that country. Thus, for example, it would make little sense for the article Wyoming to be written in Australian English, and likewise in an article about a British company it is a mistake to impose US English by replacing the noun "licences" with "licenses". JBW (talk) 19:24, 6 September 2021 (UTC)


 * The differences in license/licence occurred to me, but ultimately I changed it to make it consistent with "licensing," which appears throughout. Nevertheless, I will concede this point.  As for the rest, I use "it" based on the education I received and not because I prefer it.  Still, I changed my user page and will keep your words in mind going forward.--It-Not-They (talk) 19:37, 6 September 2021 (UTC)
 * "Licensing" is part of the verb "to license", which is spelt with an s in all varieties of English, as far as I know, whereas the noun "licence" has an s in US English, and a c in most, or perhaps all, other varieties. JBW (talk) 20:56, 6 September 2021 (UTC)


 * I was going to leave a message about your username, It-Not-They, but I see has already engaged you about your userpage. I'd just like to say that this name, plus the content of your userpage is likely to cause disruption with other users from this project, so I'd recommend removing the second part of the message from your userpage. Isabelle 🔔 19:29, 6 September 2021 (UTC)