[tei-council] Last question about badges

[Dan O'Donnell]

Well since the question has been opened up again anyway, and since 
"powered by" has never generated gobs of enthusiasm, let's hear what 
people think and go with a straight majority. It is 2-2, leaving my 
opinion aside.

The issue with "powered by" has been that unlike "Powered by Pennzoil" 
on the hood of a race care, we don't actually mean: "it is what is under 
the hood." In fact we explicitly decided it meant, "it is in use 
somewhere in some unspecified way nearby."

Since the phrase is at least open to a more restrictive interpretation, 
I was dreading trying to explain to people how the button could be used 
on the TEI website. I can much more easily explain: "Feel free to slap a 
'I/we use TEI' button on your project page if you use TEI in your 
project." Saying "well it's kind of a joke, and it doesn't actually mean 
that the page you put it on actually has a TEI backend, but if you use 
TEI somewhere, feel free to put up this claim which could be taken quite 
broadly by you and your users if you wish." This seemed to be simply 
asking for confusion, and hence, lack of use.

While I wouldn't say "Powered by" is pretentious, I would say it lacks 
some clarity that a simple statement eliminates. I can see both why 
people like "Powered by" and why they wouldn't want the question 
reopened, there's no point using a phrase that needs to be explained on 
something we want used.



Lou Burnard wrote:
> Please, no replacements, no alternatives. We reached an agreement on this topic.
> Please let's not reopen the issue.
>
> And (obviously) I agree with David here!
>
>
> In message <alpine.OSX.2.00.0902181158030.14091 at lister.ei.Virginia.EDU> David
> Sewell <dsewell at virginia.edu> writes:
>   
>> On Wed, 18 Feb 2009, Sebastian Rahtz wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> yes, "We use TEI" would be rather fun. "Powered by"
>>> _is_ a bit pretentious.
>>>
>>>       
>> Hmm, I have somewhat the opposite reaction. In the computing world, my
>> sense is that "Powered by X" was always a slightly geeky play on the way
>> the phrase was used in the race-car world: Powered by Pennzoil, Powered
>> by Ferrari, whatever. "We/I use TEI" is a little too personal for my
>> taste.
>>
>> So at a minimum I would suggest the "We/I use" phrasing should be an
>> alternative, not a replacement.
>>
>> David
>>
>> -- 
>> David Sewell, Editorial and Technical Manager
>> ROTUNDA, The University of Virginia Press
>> PO Box 801079, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4318 USA
>> Courier: 310 Old Ivy Way, Suite 302, Charlottesville VA 22903
>> Email: dsewell at virginia.edu   Tel: +1 434 924 9973
>> Web: http://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/
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