AP changes to 'website'

[Dave Wilton]

Yes, the capitalization of "Internet" is an artifact from twenty-plus years
ago, before the global internet was ubiquitous (and not even really
"global," being restricted mainly to the US military-industrial-university
complex) and people were as likely, or even more so, to be connected to a
smaller TCP/IP (or other protocol) network rather than the global internet.
Some of those other networks still exist, but no one really calls them
"internets" any more.

Those insisting on capitalizing "Internet" are trying to prescribe a style
based on an arcane technical distinction that isn't very relevant anymore.

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Eric Nielsen
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 11:21 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: AP changes to 'website'

Your assessment seems better informed than mine, Dave. I've been taking
computer classes at one of the local colleges, and this distinction between
lower and uppercase "internet" was stressed in the two networking classes I
took. I believe it even appeared as the subject of an exam question in at
least one, and maybe both, classes.

The teachers are both 30+ year veterans of the computer industry, but they
may not be up to date on accepted style--being retired now for five or so
years. Same for the authors cited. They probably don't spend that much time
re-editing their new editions. Thanks for the more current info.

Eric



On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 10:57 AM, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
> Subject:      Re: AP changes to 'website'
>
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
>
> This used to be the accepted practice, but it's not so true anymore.
> Computer professionals are all over the map with "internet"/"Internet" and
> "website"/"web site"/"Website"/"Web site." Ditto for industry
publications.
> Wired magazine, for example, shifted their style to a lower-case
"internet"
> in 2004.
>
> In everyday practice, no one uses "Internet" to refer to the smaller
routed
> networks--capitalization alone is not enough to prevent confusion. Most
> professionals use terms like "network" to refer to the smaller and private
> TCP/IP networks. I've worked in Silicon Valley for over a decade and I
> don't
> think I've ever heard anyone use "Internet" to refer to the smaller routed
> networks, other than in a handful of books and technical papers about
> networking standards and practices (like the ones cited here).
>
> Officially, AP is relevant for just AP. But many news organizations use
the
> AP style, or use it with exceptions (e.g., not all newspapers that use the
> AP style will make the shift to "website.") Like any style guide, it's
> simply a way to provide consistency among the many writers and editors
when
> it comes to arbitrary decisions of style. Outside the news business, it
> isn't much used, and the AP style is sneered at and derided by many copy
> editors. (Why I don't really understand; I think it's perfectly
serviceable
> as a guide to writing news stories, although not especially applicable to
> other types of writing.)
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of
> Eric Nielsen
> Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 5:08 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: AP changes to 'website'
>
>  The accepted practice among computer professionals:
>
> "In this book, we will spell *internet* in the smaller case to refer to
any
> routed network, and we will spell *Internet *in upper case to refer to the
> global Internet."
>
> Panko, Raymond R.
> *Business Data Networks and Telecommunications*
> Seventh Edition
> Prentice Hall, 2009
> p.32
>
> Of course, that's not to say that the AP will follow suit.
>
> Eric
>
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 12:06 AM, Taylor Kate Brown
> <tkatebrown at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Taylor Kate Brown <tkatebrown at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      AP changes to 'website'
> >
> >
>
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm a Columbia journalism student working on an reported opinion piece
on
> > the rationale behind the copyediting styles of Web site and Internet.
> Then
> > last Friday, the AP shocked me by actually changing their style to
> > "website". From what I understand about the background of both words,
> there
> > was a stronger case for keeping Web capitalized, but not Internet.
What's
> > everyone's thoughts on this change? Why not de-capitalize Internet at
the
> > same time? And for whom is AP relevant for? Readers or simply to clear
up
> > confusion at large media outlets?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Taylor Kate Brown
> >
> > ---
> > tkatebrown at gmail.com
> > www.taylorkatebrown.com
> >
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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
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