User talk:Topspook

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Dear Demiurge1000,

Hope you're well. I think I've wasted your time, and for that I apologize. I thought careful edits - of word use, punctuation, etc. - were welcome. They aren't. I edited articles about the Nazi genocide, substituting "murder facility" - a precise description - in place of "extermination camp", a Nazi term, that reflects their view of their victims. A "moderator" took umbrage at that change and discarded all of my edits. I explained the reason for my change. He prefers the Nazi term. I have no use for Nazis, those who sympathize with them, and those, who adopt and use their language.

Again, I regret having wasted your time. Had I known better, I'd not have troubled You.

Yours faithfully,

Jay E. Simkin

Yours faithfully, — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.109.152.197 (talk) 14:32, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

Recent changes
Hi. Please use article talk pages to propose radical changes to articles (such as changing the commonly used and accepted term "Extermination camp" to your preferred "murder facility".) What's more, you've been changing contents of direct quotes and breaking links to existing articles. Please be more careful in future edits. --jpgordon:==( o ) 01:19, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

Dear Jpgordon, Hope you're well. I apologize for breaking links: that was inadvertent. As to language, the term "extermination camp" is a Nazi term. The Nazis viewed their victims as sub-humans. Thus, for them, the term "extermination" was correct. History has judged the Nazis to have committed genocide. The victims of a genocidal regime are, by definition, innocent of any wrong-doing. In English (UK or USA), the taking of an innocent life with malice aforethought is "murder". The method does not matter. The Nazis set up places with the express purpose of murdering those, to be sent to those places. That is exactly what they did. Thus, the term "murder facility" is technically accurate.

That the term "extermination camp" - a direct translation of "vernichtungslager" - has been used for 60 years does not make it correct. For a couple of centuries, African-Americans were often referred to as "N-g--rs". This term was wrong when it was first used, and it is still wrong. No right-thinking person would use such a term. No right-thinking person, should use a term, that equates humans to insects, and harmful insects, at that.

My edits are simply intended to improve the technical quality of the article. I did not change any statistical data, personal names, place names, etc.

If changes to language are "unacceptable", so state. This article has many errors of diction (word use), punctuation, etc. I fixed most of them. That work seems to have been discarded. I write for those, who have little time to read. As a result, I write clearly and accurately. If that isn't wanted, I'll move on.
 * The changes you are making to the language must be discussed on the article talk page. Feel free to fix diction, punctuation, etc. Do not, without discussing it, change generally accepted terms into ones you simply prefer; you need to gain consensus for such broad changes. Wikipedia is not a place to lobby for language change. Myself, I'll stick with the ugliness of "extermination camp"; "vernichtung" is perhaps the ugliest word in any language. --jpgordon:==( o ) 03:50, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

Dear Jpgordon,

Hope you're well. I do not "lobby" for language change. To do that, would mean I accepted that there are alternatives. The term "extermination camp" is a Nazi term. As such, it has no place in standard English, except in direct quotes from Nazi documents.

Equally, to use the term "killing" to describe what the Nazis did to their victims is a gross abuse of language. A killing can be justified. Genocide - mass murder - can never be justified. This is a fundamental difference.

Those, who use these terms as if these terms were synonyms, need to open a dictionary.

I use words precisely. English - and I have several languages beyond - allows for far greater precision, as an average, than does any other widely-used language.

I regret having wasted your time and apologize for that.

I do not intend to fix errors in the article in question. That would make more readable, an article with a horrible flaw.

Yours faithfully, Jay E. Simkin