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Proposal: LEGO

I know this issue can raise hackles, but one of the canonical answers this SE site will have to provide is the correct, unabridged and definitive answer to the Lego/Legos question.

Should we enforce this on the site through editing/encouraging good practice though, or be a bit more laissez-faire and just let the (patently incorrect ;) Legos stand also?

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    I vote to ban anyone who makes a fuss.
    – Matthew Read
    Oct 5, 2011 at 20:57
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    @Dori Yes, they would. They would NEVER use Kleenexes, just Kleenex tissues.
    – Zoot
    Oct 7, 2011 at 21:04
  • Never - a true LEGO fanatic will use LEGO napkins
    – Joubarc
    Oct 10, 2011 at 8:48

2 Answers 2

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This is the kind of question that pollutes every forum, be it Usenet, web, or a StackOverflow one.

To my mind, the shame should go on the one that tries to make sure every trademark is respected, even more for a site that may attract a bunch of youngsters.

As a consequence, I totally disagree with you : as long as the user makes clear he is playing with small plastic bricks, I personnally don't care if he calls them Lego, legos, or even one of those non-trademarked clones. To my mind, that brickoverfow (semi-official name of that upcoming site) will be about construction games using bricks, more than about lego fanatism.

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    There will be some LEGO fanatics though :-)
    – Joubarc
    Oct 7, 2011 at 11:53
  • @Joubarc For sure there will be (well, elsewhere, even the idea of Brickoverflow would be overkill). But, to my mind, it's more a brick StackExchange than a LEGO trademark respectful site. I mean, the boy in me told me it would be a good idea to do so.
    – Riduidel
    Oct 7, 2011 at 13:11
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    Can't agree more that the main focus of the site should not be trademark enforcement. Honestly, I don't think it will be that much of an issue. I'll edit them all anyway :-)
    – Joubarc
    Oct 7, 2011 at 14:06
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    @Joubarc OK, you're the first official member of LEGO trademark patrol :-)
    – Riduidel
    Oct 10, 2011 at 8:40
  • there will also be Danish people who will cringe each time they see <unmentionable spelling of LEGO>, and some of them might get enough points to scan the site for such spelling and correct it :)
    – mplungjan
    Oct 12, 2011 at 9:11
  • Well, if they want to be honoris members of the LEGO trademark patrol, they can (after all, I already edited my load of questions on StackOverflow) and I will be the first to send them their LEGO platenamed brick of approval. However, I don't find neither intelligent nor welcoming to blame users on their spelling (again, the example of StackOverflow is enligntening : I've never seen any question closed for a bad spelling - although the opposite example exists, and someone will point it out as a reply).
    – Riduidel
    Oct 12, 2011 at 9:53
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I think it depends a lot on where the LEGO name is used. On site-specific content (tags definitions come to mind, for example), it's probably best to make sure LEGO is written as intented by LEGO itself.

Let's keep in mind that we will1 attract the attention of LEGO and that they'll appreciate the effort. Let's make sure from the start that they consider us as a valid and interesting online community, and not as a thorn in the foot (or pain elsewhere).

In short, let's play nice with them, and they'll play nice with us.

Of course, it's not realistic to ask for all posts to be written according to LEGO guidelines, and it's certainly not the goal that LEGO has any form of control on the site either. So I'd say we can encourage people to follow the guidelines, but we can't really force anyone.

There's one particular point of their guidelines which I think can't realistically be enforced, which is to always use LEGO as adjective. While it's usually not a big issue, sometimes it's just too cumbersome to forcefully add a noun. I'm fine with anyone saying "I play with my LEGO in my room".

As for editing posts to respect the guidelines, honestly, I don't see any harm in doing it. On languages SE sites for example, editing spelling mistakes away is common practice and it doesn't bother anyone. Heck, even spaces get edited away on the French SE.

But anyway, all this is probably going to be discussed on the meta site when it's up.

1. Probably because I'll inform them of it myself, on the ground that it's better they know about the site from the start rather than having to change stuff later on in the game.

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