Domain names

[MJ Ray]

William from Texas <williamfromtexas at gmail.com>
> Seeing as fsfeurope.org redirects to fsfe.org, I don't think the brand is
> being weakened. "FSFE" would seem to be the leading acronym, with "FSF
> Europe" maybe used at times to show stronger affiliation as "a European
> branch of the FSF". Not having reviewed any charters, though, I can't be
> sure how accurate the real situation is or should be.

I wasn't saying it was weakened - just that FSFE alone lacked the
reinforcement from FSF, so I feel it's slightly fiddlier to use
because it needs explanation to more people.

If you'd like to review it, the constitution is at
http://fsfe.org/about/ and I feel it shows how arbitrary all this is
in practice.  FSFE theoretically means Free Software Foundation
Europe, but it's actually a part-democratic federal association (a
German e.V.) rather than a foundation (there are no founders with
special powers or rights AFAIK).

So given the name is arbitrary anyway, how did they arrive at FSFE
instead of FSF Europe?

> Compare:
>  - "FSFE initiated talks with Danish MEPs." -> An org called FSFE is
> talking with MEPs in Denmark.
>  - "FSF Europe initiated talks with Danish MEPs." -> The FSF is talking
> with Danish MEPs through it's EU office.

Should there be any significant difference between the two?

Anyway, we should say something like "European Free Software
association FSFE talked with Danish Euro-parliamentarians" and avoid
EU TLAitis.

> A primary acronym should be official, but a balanced "E vs Europe" mix can
> be useful in raise public awareness depending on context.

Indeed!
-- 
MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op.
http://koha-community.org supporter, web and library systems developer.
In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html
Available for hire (including development) at http://www.software.coop/