Semantics: Proper vs. Title Case

Shilfiell-INGShilfiell-ING Posts: 1,560 Ambassador

I see lots of submissions for edits for Titles lately in which the only difference is proper case vs. title case. In proper case, every word in a title or phrase is capitalized. In title case, articles and prepositions remain in lowercase. "Taming of the Shrew" is title case: "Taming Of The Shrew" is proper case, as an example. Since we're working with titles of potential POIs here, I lean heavily towards title case. I think these fairly trivial edits are hurting my overall rating, as it looks like many reviewers are tending towards proper case. Does Niantic publish a style guide for titling? Is there any way that such edits can be excluded from reviewer rating? I think forcing POI titles to all caps might eliminate many edits and streamline the review queues, but if Niantic published a preference I'd be sure to consult that guide for all such reviews.

Comments

  • saarstahl-INGsaarstahl-ING Posts: 184 ✭✭✭

    In my opinion, title case is preferred, sentence case is acceptable, but proper case is wrong, and should be corrected. All caps would be quite ugly and also make POI titles wider than they already are.

  • kitanchik-INGkitanchik-ING Posts: 77 ✭✭

    may be they do not know, that it depends on language. different from english - in my local language should be first word capital, other not, except person names. and i get like that: Vytis Tarp Gėlių (english style) / Vytis tarp gėlių (local style) it could be "Tarp gėlių Vytis", as it person name. i choose local, if no obvious grammar errors, else i choose english if suggested. i choose nothing if both are very poor.

    ps. and yes i ignore that caps in plural :)

  • HaramDingo-INGHaramDingo-ING Posts: 1,725 ✭✭✭✭✭

    As long as it is Title Case or Proper Case, then I'm happy with either for the most part, but Title Case is always the best. Sentence case for the name of the wayspot is permissable, but when they have everything as lower case OR they add a full-stop at the end, they are the ones who like to see the world burn.

    Oh, and also those people who put spaces at the end of their nominations or descriptions.

  • kitanchik-INGkitanchik-ING Posts: 77 ✭✭

    dots and spaces after can be corrected by trim function, without 20s of our time.

  • Shilfiell-INGShilfiell-ING Posts: 1,560 Ambassador
    edited May 2021

    Oh, how I'd love if everyone followed your style guide and spelled things correctly from the start. If the local public could learn to spell just one word, I know what I'd elect: "exercise". I'm an optimist!

    As far as rating, we've seen quite a few reports of reviewers getting a 30-day ban that seem based solely on edits. I'm never sure what counts and what doesn't!

  • flatmatt-PGOflatmatt-PGO Posts: 2,141 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2021

    For me, title case > proper case (had not heard that term before) > all uppercase > sentence case > all lowercase. A title with a period at the end annoys me, but if it's properly capitalized I still might choose it over a less properly capitalized version without a period. Also, I might change my mind on all uppercase being better than sentence case.

    A few caveats to the above, though. The above would not apply to anything with an official title with specific capitalization or punctuation (one of my earliest edits was to add the official name of an art piece to the wayspot, in sentence case). Also, as I've been reminded on the forums, languages other than English may have different capitalization rules that should be used when appropriate.

  • KetaSkooter-INGKetaSkooter-ING Posts: 177 ✭✭✭

    I like title case the best but it really doesn't matter to me that much. I really hate getting punctuation edits to review. Especially lately since there's a bug with edits that I get to review certain edits multiple times further wasting my efforts.

  • WheelTrekker-INGWheelTrekker-ING Posts: 3,387 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Right, using title case, proper case or all upper case might look horrible for non-English languages. Just follow the rules of your language.

  • 0X00FF00-ING0X00FF00-ING Posts: 769 ✭✭✭✭✭

    None of these Wayspot names would be reason to reject a nomination, or even to reduce points in the review ratings:

    1. Playground Equipment In Named Park
    2. Playground Equipment in Named Park
    3. Playground equipment in Named Park
    4. Playground equipment in Named Park
    5. playground equipment in named park
    6. ... and on and on ...

    Reminders, NOT everybody is a "native English" speaker. And other countries have varying rules, most of which I've never heard of either.

    Mind you, IF I were to stumble across options 4+ in my trav(e/ai)ls, I might be bothered to submit an edit and move on with my life. I know I've corrected egregious mispleenings and terribly ugly capitalizations (ie. Playground equipment in named PARK).

  • Shilfiell-INGShilfiell-ING Posts: 1,560 Ambassador

    I'm not talking about rejections, though. I'm talking about edits, where the two options are Playground Equipment in the Named Park and Playground Equipment In The Named Park.

  • 0X00FF00-ING0X00FF00-ING Posts: 769 ✭✭✭✭✭

    To ride between the liens, NONE of the options 1.-5. are "wrong". The "best" one is almost entirely a matter of personal preference.

    It only ends up being a problem, when two or more separate individuals in the same local area are both adamant that a different one is "right", and they have a bit of an edit war, where both repeatedly submit a "fix" to the others' previous "fix".

  • Hosette-INGHosette-ING Posts: 3,470 ✭✭✭✭✭

    What I really wish is that Niantic would reject edits that don't change the substance of the text. We can obsess about capitalization all we want to but the bottom line is that there is no one right way to do it so there's no reason to waste reviewers' time on it.

  • flatmatt-PGOflatmatt-PGO Posts: 2,141 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I can't really agree with this. Titles and descriptions with obvious spelling mistakes and grammatical issues tend to annoy the heck out of me.

  • Hosette-INGHosette-ING Posts: 3,470 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @flatmatt-PGO Fixing spelling and grammar errors is substance. Changing the capitalization is window dressing.

    I apologize for not being clear in my previous message.

  • flatmatt-PGOflatmatt-PGO Posts: 2,141 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2021

    In that case, I would also clarify my statement to say that I would consider a Wayspot title written all in lowercase letters (without a good reason) to be among those spelling or grammatical errors that I might want fixed, depending on the circumstances.

    Edit to add: I probably wouldn't bother unless it was a Wayspot I used frequently in-game. And I probably wouldn't bother if the only issue was the use of proper case compared to title case.

  • QuiteConfused-INGQuiteConfused-ING Posts: 51 ✭✭
    edited May 2021

    I hate these trivial capitalization edits. Especially since I'm the outlier who prefers sentence case most of the time. Title case is good too. But being asked to choose between them -- who cares?

    Also, I have to say that I appreciate learning that there are other people who ponder the right decision on things like this.

  • Shilfiell-INGShilfiell-ING Posts: 1,560 Ambassador

    I would certainly love to see fewer of these edits :(

  • TheFarix-PGOTheFarix-PGO Posts: 5,063 ✭✭✭✭✭
  • Shilfiell-INGShilfiell-ING Posts: 1,560 Ambassador

    No idea if it's to correct the case or to un-correct the case. I'll choose Title Case every time, but scores of other reviewers may lean towards Proper, so it's not what 'd call an "easy agreement" unless Niantic published a Style Guide to which we all could refer.

  • TheFarix-PGOTheFarix-PGO Posts: 5,063 ✭✭✭✭✭

    So your only complaint is that other reviewers may chose the 'wrong one' and you won't get an agreement. If all you care about is your agreement rating, then perhaps you stop stop reviewing altogether. These types of edits are simply to choose between and I have no problems collecting agreements as a result.

  • Shilfiell-INGShilfiell-ING Posts: 1,560 Ambassador

    I have no intention of stopping reviewing altogether. I do care about my agreement rating, so that my Great rating will allow me to continue to contribute to the database most effectively. I'm not overtly complaining: I do wish, though, that Niantic would state a preference or offer suggestions for titles. Getting repetitive, trivial edits for minor capitalization issues wastes my time as a reviewer, wastes submitters' time when making the edits, and contributes to the overall slowness of the system by putting more work in queue. I will continue to review as I have been and choosing the option that seems most correct to me, regardless of its effects. I've maintained my great rating for some time, review daily, submit often, and brought up this topic to discuss style preferences, not to be told that I should stop reviewing entirely or that my desire for a bit of clarity or standardization is not to everyone's taste. As always, your mileage may vary.

  • Hosette-INGHosette-ING Posts: 3,470 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2021

    @TheFarix-PGO I don't necessarily agree that changing the case of a title is a good edit. I don't believe that there is one correct case for wayspots, and that multiple styles are acceptable. I also don't think that changing the case of a title contributes much to gameplay unless tHe tITLe is HArD To ReaD. It may also be the case that not all titles should be capitalized the same way.

    In most parts of the world the review queue is extremely backlogged and new, high-quality candidates can take months go to through the system. I would rather see precious review capacity used for changes of substance rather than style.

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