A bit tangiental but most of the time it is better to talk about accounts and not users.

(Only IT professionals and drug dealers talk about “users”).

We should clarify when we say “user” and when “account”.

My take is: while “users” refer to the humans who use PieFed, accounts are the entity used to authorize users. Users cannot be banned technically, but accounts can.

• all strings about authentication, blocking and privileges, etc. should talk about accounts, not users
• there’s nothing but user accounts, so drop the “user” in and keep just “accounts”
• because users never use their real name, we shouldn’t talk about user names but about “account names” or “identifiers”
• “account” is independent from it’s user’s name, gender and most further traits
• other subjects are problematic, too: “Moderator added”, “Replier blocked”, “Block author”, “Number of known subscribers”, “Manually aprove followers”

Options:

1. we could generalize the User/Account differentiation for all problematic subjects: “Mod account added”, “Replying account blocked”, “Number of known suscribing accounts”, “Manually aprove following accounts”

• “account” repeats a lot, maybe that’s an opportunity for finding a rephrasing that is unique for PieFed? “Fedi”?

2. we can drop the subject where possible and instead focus on the passive predicate: “Moderation reinforced”, “Source of reply blocked”, “Number of known subscriptions”, “Manually aprove follows”

• to avoid military tone, maybe use more humorous exaggerations?

3. how can we maintain a friendly, close sound while attempting these linguist acrobats?

• Talk to “you” where ever possible.
• Mention “your peers” or “your equals” more often.

4. Benutzer, _Benutzende, _Nutzende, Nutzys, Mitglieder, Leute, ~Meine Kerle~

• Don’t risk too much. Normies are welcome, too.
• How about an additional language next to de_DE: de_Gendered

This is where I’m stuck. Nutzende is my preferred plural form. But I haven’t found a fitting singular form for it. There is more, but I’m just using this as an example of the challenges.

Yeah, there is no singular neutral form of Nutzende.

Which strings are you trying to translate?

User: Nutzende, singular would be Nutzer*in

Uh, difficult. I really dislike those circumscriptions into passive form or with adjectives. My own opinion is, we have direct nouns for a reason. So I’d prefer “Nutzer:innen” over “Nutzende” and all the other options. And furthermore, since when are Germans opposed to long words? 😆 But this is just one opinion from one random person (me).

Maybe think of upcoming difficulties like “user settings”. Should that be “Benutzendeneinstellungen”, “Einstellungen des Nutzenden”, “Nutzer:inneneinstellungen”…? I think our language doesn’t offer any good option except the generic masculine form… Which isn’t gender-neutral…

I feel like at least for central navigation elements like single word buttons, forms like “benutzys” are not so suitable. Because there will already be a usability trade-offs in using less established terms. People will understand a bit less clearly what is going on and how to navigate things. So things like “Nutzende” which can still be derived from the more commonly used gendered terms by using the regular rules of language will be much more legible and provide less of a riddle than a term like “nutzy” which basically invents new grammar. (in general I do actually like the “invent new grammar” approach to gender neutral language because I think it’s the most thorough and elegant approach overall. But it can also be a bit much/hard to comprehend if you’re not familiar).