Nijmegen, 2001-07-30 Dear Mr. Lebeaupin, Mr. Tessier, I am afraid that you have misread and misunderstood what I mean, and your answer is not satisfactory to me. I knew that I can personalize the units, but that is not the point; I stated that in my original message too. I object in principle to non-metric units on continental European websites, even more when these units are the *default* ones. It is incomprehensible to me that a French website uses British/American units of measurement in *all languages* as the *default units.* You did not explain the reason why. I do not regard such defaults as 'having respect for cultural customs' of mainland European peoples. BTW, the metric system is not a 'cultural custom'; it is the global language of measurement. I am starting to wonder, is your aim helping to make the American 'system' of weights and measures the global one in the long run? I do not understand why users of the metric system should have to 'personalize' their choices on a French site, just to please and to accomodate anti-metric British and Americans who have their units at their disposal at once. I requested to change the site in such a way, that non-metric units are included on maps and itineraries in the USA and the UK, and change the rest to metric only. This is reasonable in my book, would be respectful of all peoples and their needs, and I do not understand why that is not possible. I referred to Americans who are fighting for metrication in their country and here are three e-mail addresses from them. They are just a few of the many. Professor Eugene Mechtly (engineering), [EMAIL PROTECTED] Carleton MacDonald, [EMAIL PROTECTED] John Schweisthal [EMAIL PROTECTED] You have boarded a sinking ship. American and British units will never be adopted in metric countries and one day they will go. Please think again about your position in this matter and consider to show users of the metric system the same measure of respect you now only show to anti-metric English speaking people.. Yours sincerely, Han Maenen [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: Julien TESSIER To: Han Maenen Sent: Monday, 2001 July 30, 16:54 Subject: RE: use of British units by Maporama Dear Sir, First of all, I thank you for the interest you have for our website and I hope it will be useful in your daily life. As for your mail, Please have a look at the � personnalize � directory at the right side of the map. Many options can be selected to modify the scale of the map, the metric unit, the graphic charte, the default legend (point of interest). In this way, you will get the metric system for your map. I want to ensure you that we do the maximum to respect linguistic and cultural customs (metric system in this case). Maporama website quality is our #1 priority and thanks to your comments we will keep on reducing the error rate to 0 and ameliorate the quality of our service. Thank you for your help and the faithfulness you give us. Regards. No�l Lebeaupin, webmaster. PS : for further information or any problem please continue to mail at the [EMAIL PROTECTED] address. -----Original Message----- From: Han Maenen [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: samedi 28 juillet 2001 21:04 To: List_Webmaster Subject: use of British units by Maporama Sir, Recently I joined your site with a password and e-mail address. Then I loaded a route between Den Helder and Maastricht in the Dutch language. I was shocked and revolted when I saw that the distances were not given in meters and kilometers as I expect on a mainland European website, but in British/American yards and miles! I tried several other languages, but they always defaulted to yard and mile trash! Since when do Europeans need these units while working out an itinerary in mainland Europe? I saw that there is a metric option but that is not the point. I do not accept British units in any metric environment and I expect a French website to use metric units. We should not be made by French people (!!!!) to press a button to get this filth out of our sight. I have to tell you, I feel betrayed and I am furious. Why do the maps and itineraries in *all languages* default to UK/USA units of measurement? <snip>
