[lojban] Re: "point"?

[Jorge Llambías <lojban-out@lojban.org>]

On 12/5/05, Robin Lee Powell <rlpowell@digitalkingdom.org> wrote:
> On Sat, Dec 03, 2005 at 12:54:33PM -0300, Jorge Llamb?as wrote:
> > On 12/3/05, Robin Lee Powell <rlpowell@digitalkingdom.org> wrote:
> > >
> > > >     lojban.org links to Nick's Lojban pages
> >
> >  {vorme} is not unidirectional, but
> > then you can always click on the "back" button,
>
> *UGH*.  Even for you[1] that's a horrible metaphor.  The "back"
> button does *NOT* make a link bi-directional in any respect
> whatsoever.  If X links to Y, unless someone else who gets to Y by
> some other means can *see* that X links to Y, the link is strongly
> unidirectional.

Some buildings have emergency exits that allow passage in one
direction only (unless under special circumstances, like if you
open it from the inside, similar to the special circumstance of
being able to go back to the page where you came from). I don't
think I would mind {vorme} being used for that kind of door.

> Furthermore, the x4 is spurious at best.

Actually... The x4 could be used to distinguish links to other pages
generally anywhere in x4 = the internet, links to pages in
x4 = the same site, and links to other places in x4 = the same
page...

The main problem I see with {vorme} for "link" is that there are other
possibilities in the same general area that could compete for it,
such as "portal" or "home page", which are also kinds of entrances.

> [1]: xorxes and I have a long-standing fight about computer-related
> terminology.  I think his creations show a complete lack of
> understanding of how computers actually function,

You exaggerate, how many terms have we really disagreed on?
I can only think of {papri} for webpage. I don't really have a strong
position on this. I don't especially like {papri} or {vorme}, but they
are better than nothing. One alternative is to create lots of fu'ivla
for computer terminology, but in general I prefer to make use of
what's available.

The metaphor of webpages as places is very strong and productive
though. Finding literal terms for "site", "visitor", "enter/leave a page",
etc. could be hard, and would it really make things clearer?

> and he thinks I
> have a pathological fear of metaphor.  The truth is probably
> somewhere in the middle.

I probably wouldn't call it "pathological". :)

mu'o mi'e xorxes


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