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Title: Proper case of Bitcoin client Post by: mizerydearia on May 06, 2011, 02:00:05 PM What is the general consensus for case of "Bitcoin?"
Title: Re: Proper case of Bitcoin client Post by: BitterTea on May 06, 2011, 02:06:13 PM Well, according to the software itself, it's "Bitcoin".
Title: Re: Proper case of Bitcoin client Post by: ribuck on May 06, 2011, 02:06:29 PM In Satoshi's original paper he used the style Bitcoin.
http://www.bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf Title: Re: Proper case of Bitcoin client Post by: Anonymous on May 06, 2011, 02:07:39 PM What is this "BitCoin" you speak of ? :)
Title: Re: Proper case of Bitcoin client Post by: mizerydearia on May 06, 2011, 02:09:43 PM What is this "BitCoin" you speak of ? :) It is the gross abuse of the spelling that has been established by several users who seem to have not recognized that the spelling was "Bitcoin." I therefore established this poll to help provide better awareness of the issue. See http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=7269.msg108845#msg108845 for one example. Title: Re: Proper case of Bitcoin client Post by: BitterTea on May 06, 2011, 02:28:49 PM Does it really matter? I think eMansipator has a valid point, it can get confusing if you don't know whether one is talking about the client software or the currency units.
Title: Re: Proper case of Bitcoin client Post by: mizerydearia on May 06, 2011, 02:49:08 PM Does it really matter? I think eMansipator has a valid point, it can get confusing if you don't know whether one is talking about the client software or the currency units. I think it matters. "Bitcoin" is easily recognizable as an alternative to "bitcoin" and it isn't necessary to use the nonstandard or unofficial variation of "BitCoin." What would be the reason for capital C? Perhaps for related naming schemes these would be appropriate also then? MoZilla FireFox MicroSoft InterNet ExPlorer AdoBe PhotoShop GnuMeric AbiWord AudaCity RhythmBox KonQueror Title: Re: Proper case of Bitcoin client Post by: djoot on May 06, 2011, 04:43:22 PM Does it really matter? I think eMansipator has a valid point, it can get confusing if you don't know whether one is talking about the client software or the currency units. I think it matters. "Bitcoin" is easily recognizable as an alternative to "bitcoin" and it isn't necessary to use the nonstandard or unofficial variation of "BitCoin." What would be the reason for capital C? Perhaps for related naming schemes these would be appropriate also then? MoZilla FireFox MicroSoft InterNet ExPlorer AdoBe PhotoShop GnuMeric AbiWord AudaCity RhythmBox KonQueror http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AbiWord (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AbiWord) Title: Re: Proper case of Bitcoin client Post by: BitterTea on May 06, 2011, 04:45:14 PM I think it matters. "Bitcoin" is easily recognizable as an alternative to "bitcoin" and it isn't necessary to use the nonstandard or unofficial variation of "BitCoin." What would be the reason for capital C? Perhaps for related naming schemes these would be appropriate also then? MoZilla FireFox MicroSoft InterNet ExPlorer AdoBe PhotoShop GnuMeric AbiWord AudaCity RhythmBox KonQueror What detrimental effect does miscapitalization of a single letter cause? I really don't think it's going to confuse anybody. Title: Re: Proper case of Bitcoin client Post by: Stephen Gornick on May 06, 2011, 04:58:17 PM What detrimental effect does miscapitalization of a single letter cause? I really don't think it's going to confuse anybody. No but most want to know the "right" way: http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=7311.0 Title: Re: Proper case of Bitcoin client Post by: mizerydearia on May 07, 2011, 01:32:55 AM I think it matters. "Bitcoin" is easily recognizable as an alternative to "bitcoin" and it isn't necessary to use the nonstandard or unofficial variation of "BitCoin." What would be the reason for capital C? Perhaps for related naming schemes these would be appropriate also then? MoZilla FireFox MicroSoft InterNet ExPlorer AdoBe PhotoShop GnuMeric AbiWord AudaCity RhythmBox KonQueror What detrimental effect does miscapitalization of a single letter cause? I really don't think it's going to confuse anybody. The same reason just five days ago my mom was bursting into tears* in utter frustration and disappointment that Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! misspelled her name with a 'C' instead of an 'S' even after just twenty-nine seconds prior my mom had communicated to Amy Goodman that her name is specifically spelled with an 'S.' Spelling and capitalization is important and serious business. * Note that my mom was already bursting into tears and in utter frustration and disappointment in me because she saw my facial expression in reaction to the amazingness of Amy Goodman's talk and she was jealous and mad at me that she hadn't established a similar reaction from me due to her not being as amazing. Title: Re: Proper case of Bitcoin client Post by: NghtRppr on May 07, 2011, 01:38:03 AM Does it really matter? I think eMansipator has a valid point, it can get confusing if you don't know whether one is talking about the client software or the currency units. I have adopted using Bitcoin to refer to the project itself and BTC to refer to the currency. Title: Re: Proper case of Bitcoin client Post by: theymos on May 07, 2011, 03:57:55 AM "BitCoin" is wrong, since the software doesn't use that capitalization. Creators define capitalization, and people concerned about correctness will use that capitalization. Examples: eNom, TWiT, FastMail.FM, BitTorrent.
The Chicago Manual of Style strongly implies that "trademark" names should be left with unmodified capitalization: Quote Brand names or names of companies that are spelled with a lowercase initial letter (eBay, iMac, etc.) pose a problem if they begin a sentence in normal prose. Chicago recommends either capitalizing the first letter in that position or, better, recasting the sentence so the name does not appear at the beginning. Company or product names with an internal capital immediately following, and followed by, a lowercase letter (“midcap”) should be left unchanged (WordPerfect, HarperCollins, SmithKline Beecham). Title: Re: Proper case of Bitcoin client Post by: eMansipater on May 07, 2011, 07:42:47 AM "BitCoin" has no historical basis. As theymos and others point out, the software calls itself "Bitcoin". The original paper is titled "Bitcoin" and refers to "coins". Here on the forums, Satoshi (http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=3) interchanged both the capitalised 'B' and uncapitalised 'b' versions for the technology, the software and both plural and singular versions of the currency: I know because I checked before I decided to start using "BitCoin" in my own posts. I wasn't trying to be correct, I was just creating an arbitrary convention for readability like the one FatherMcGruder proposed in December (http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2200.0). I'm not overly attached to it, but it does have the advantage of being unambiguous at the beginning of a sentence. Consider, for example:
Bitcoin rates exceeded....(exchange rates) BitCoin rates exceeded....(network transaction volumes) Bitcoin trading could mean exchanging USD for btc BitCoin trading could mean a type of commerce based on encoding contracts and other data into scripted transactions. Bitcoin domain names could refer to domain names whose market value is approximately one btc, as in "penny stocks" while BitCoin domain names could refer to domain names stored in the blockchain via a bitDNS scheme etc. For something that has the air of officialness like the "Introduction to Bitcoin/BitCoin" thread I'm quite happy to use whatever the prevailing wisdom prefers. I do think it's quite reasonable for an open-source project/community to change their conventions for practical purposes should they so desire, but maintaining a creator's original capitalisation is also of social value in the respect that it signifies, etc. As I say above, I'm not overly attached to my usage. The readability issue really only comes into play when trying to differentiate technology from singular btc at the beginning of a sentence. |