> It really IS a factor, when most users use it instead of the original
> script (this is especially true for Klingonists).

There is content which is not transliterated to Latin.  Not that you couldn't 
transliterate it if you want, but there is content which isn't automagically 
mirrored in Latin.  I don't know how much, but it exists.  Of course, we have a 
tool to transliterate Cyrillic to Latin as well.

To me, the question is "do people want to use this script?"  The answer is 
clearly "yes", and, although the numbers aren't high, it's not just one guy and 
a friend or two, but rather a small community of weirdos.  

There are things encoded in Unicode that are never used, or rarely used.  There 
are encodings for old scripts to record ancient documents where a photo might 
be better because it's hard to read from age or whatever.  Symbols & Emoji are 
whims of some font developer (and everyone sort of agrees they're bad, but they 
exist).

It can't really be that it's a "constructed" script.  All scripts were 
constructed at some point, and some constructed quite deliberately, even 
"recently" by historical standards.  Even those legible only by a single group 
of users, who can probably read another script.  Those have been encoded.

The only "real" difference that I can see is that Klingon, Tengwar, and Cirth 
are used "for fun," whereas Unicode encodes scripts that are used "for serious 
purposes", like business, 'real' communication, religion, and 
scientific/linguistic research into dead languages.  Of course there are 
symbols and Emoji, but those were ferociously fought against and only 
reluctantly admitted.

Obviously Unicode can't encode any script any person invents, and, obviously, 
some have reached a threshold where they are adopted, but others haven't.  
That's a reasonable barrier.  However pIqaD has been around for 15 years?, and 
has traction amongst disparate people, not just one guy and a couple buddies.  
It's unlikely that a 15 year requirement with some adoption would cause so much 
noise as to pollute Unicode with invented scripts.  Certainly there's far more 
garbage already in Unicode than the few code points pIqaD would take.

Tengwar and Cirth would seem to have a better case, perhaps, though it's odd 
that one dude can invent two scripts and another community couldn't get one :)

Obviously I'm not speaking for my company,

-Shawn

 


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