Ok I hope I won’t come off as an ass here. I’m not always the most eloquent.
One thing that was quite grating on Reddit, was how most “global” subreddits were basically defaulting to the USA.
For example, people would ask questions in general question subs - “Can I legally…?” ”Is a teacher allowed to…?", “How much does it cost to…?” and unless they specify the country, you were just supposed to assume it’s the US, with people from other countries keeping such questions to specific subs.
And this is just a bit weird to non-Americans who always need to specify their jurisdiction or place when it’s relevant.
On Reddit it kinda made sense as Americans were almost half of all users, but with Lemmy, anyone can run an instance from wherever.
There is a bunch of instances dedicated to countries or regions.
But Lemmy.world has “world” right there in the title. So don’t assume everyone is from the same place as you.
Don’t get me wrong, I do love the global community! But I also don’t want to get confused and make assumptions.
So all I ask is some of these things:
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If you’re asking the global community a question, making a comment etc., that is specific to some area(s) of the world, always specify the place, even if it seems self-explanatory.
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Similarly, when using generic terms such as “congress”, “conservative”, “west coast” or “health insurance”, keep in mind that lots of countries have those too in some form or another. Specify what you’re talking about.
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Careful with names of places, especially abbreviation. By CA, do you mean Canada or California? Is IN India or Indiana? Is SD an SD card? UK is an university now? And so on. I personally think abbreviation should default to countries or global organizations, if anything - such as UK, EU, UN.
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When creating/managing a community, use the Display Name to specify what you mean. (I won’t call anyone out but I kinda want to…)
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If you see someone making these assumptions, maybe let them know it can be confusing for the others.
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Consider using (or creating) an instance or community that’s more region-specific or interest-specific . I don’t want to kick anyone out, don’t get me wrong, but everyone can subscribe everywhere, so…
I’ve seen instances for many countries (and the US midwest)… But not one for USA as a whole yet. So, just keep in mind the community is global.
Again, sorry if I come off harsh, it’s not my intent, and I don’t even mean to call out people from the US specifically. It’s just that on Reddit, this has often lead to some toxicity (r/USDefaultism and some other “defaultism” subs) and it would be a shame to bring that here as well.
And you know, just to try to avoid confusion.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
ask any Spanish speaking person where Cali is and they’ll say Colombia.
I asked 4. “When I say Cali, what place do you think of?” All 4 immediately said California. One also said, “oh yeah I guess that’s a city in Colombia too right?” He’s from Chile.
Just face it. You’ve got a small, local view of the world. The vast majority of the globe is familiar with California, and not with one city in Colombia. Take this as a lesson that you should broaden your horizons.
Also
If I say I’m from Mexico, am I from New Mexico USA
That just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. Mexico the country is far more widely known than New Mexico the state. Someone says Mexico, everyone assumes the country.
Same as my Dublin example above. If I say I went to Dublin when talking to my neighbor, they’ll probably understand I’m talking about the city near me. If I say it to a stranger on the internet, they’ll think I was in Ireland. That’s normal. I wouldn’t expect them to know that Dublin is the name of an American city. I need to clarify.
Again, I think you just don’t have much experience in the world and only know what’s common in your little corner of it. You’re in a global community now and you need to learn what’s normal here.
