Editing Encyclopedia:Measurements Debate (section)

== Protest to universal addition of metric measurements to US topic articles ==

I would like to protest the mechanical, universal addition of metric measurements to all US topic articles that is now occurring. I would like to see what the consensus is, and if there is support for my position. Please see my more complete entry at [[Wikipedia Talk:Manual of Style (dates and numbers)#Protest to universal addition of metric measurements to US topic articles]]. Thank you. --[[User:Gary D|Gary D]] 00:09, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

:Metric is not an anti-US system, it is a worldwide system - which should be preferred even within the US. As such, certainly it warrants inclusion on US topic articles. It is the only sensible measurement system for scientific purposes. Having both sets of measurements though, provides a useful unambiguous value (so as you don't lose probes going to Mars for example). Besides, I haven't a clue how many strides are in a yardarm (well, OK, feet-yards-miles) - we aren't taught anything but Metric here. Many people won't have a notion as to what the local measurements mean - conversions are always needed. [[User:Zoney|'''zoney''']] '''▓<FONT COLOR="white">█</FONT>▒''' [[User talk:Zoney|'''talk''']] 12:53, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

*I don't use the metric system, don't like it, don't care about it.  That said, I absolutely agree with the automatic conversion units being added.  I always want metric units to have conversions so that I can comprehend them (especially with temperature, where the formula is weirder than my tiny brain can hold and perform), and I don't think that I should be the only one given that courtesy. [[User:Geogre|Geogre]] 14:27, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

:Wikipedia is a worldwide encyclopedia, so metrics are needed.  It makes the articles more useful for non-US readers--even if the article is about a US topic.  I don't use metric (though I think we in the US should adopt it), but I whole-heartedly support the auto-conversion for all our articles. [[User:Frecklefoot|<nowiki></nowiki>]]&mdash; [[User:Frecklefoot|Frecklefoot]] | [[User talk:Frecklefoot|Talk]] 14:58, Sep 1, 2004 (UTC)
:I definitely agree all articles should have both the US and metric measurements, with which is more predominate based on the topic of the article. However, as some people on the talk page have pointed out, if the automated conversion results in odd fractional amounts for the converted values, that probably is not a good thing. [[User:Niteowlneils|Niteowlneils]] 15:14, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Could specific pages where problems might occur have a ''no bot'' property added? Even a ''nobot'' tag similar to ''nowiki''? This might help with protecting things like "9mm (''name of gun'')". <tt>[[User:AdmN|AdmN]] 20:05, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)</tt>

:I have done a lot of edits involving measurement units. I can't see how anyone could program an effective unsupervised bot. I would be glad to be proved wrong. I am not aware of anyone proposals for such a bot. The people in the bot writing community would want a lot of convincing that a bot of that kind works well. I think that the efforts of human editors are adequate for the task and am happy to see that there are more and more people willing to do this. Incidentally, if I were able to write a unit handling bot, one of the simple uncontroversial tasks it could do would be change '9mm' to '9 mm' (note space character). But I know that your point was about conversion rather than format. [[User:Bobblewik|Bobblewik]]&nbsp;&nbsp;[[User talk:Bobblewik|(talk)]] 15:10, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)

::Here's my tupence-worth.  Metric equivalents should always accompany Imperial or US units.  SI is ''the'' international system.  This is an encyclopædia with an international audience.  I don't imagine it would be surprising if some non-American should want to read one of these US topic articles.  [[User:Jimp|Jimp]] 8Jun05

What makes you think that only Americans would read US topic articles? What makes you think metric is anti-US? Metric is taught in American schools, and it's used by scientists, engineers, doctors, and other professionals all over the US.