RE: Question for writers in New Zealand and Australia

[<Brian -dot- Henderson -at- mitchell1 -dot- com>]

Carla, let me begin by saying that my previous response was intended as
a lighthearted defense to your (seemingly lighthearted) rebuke of the
group going off in all directions. (I know "smart-aleck" does not
translate well in text...yet, I persist).

As to your question, I think Jessica nailed it pretty well:

"In our product, country or region determines a setting.  Australia and
New Zealand use the same setting with the same result.  Given that, is
there some cultural sensitivity that makes combining them into a single
choice problematic?"

I think that would have cut down on a lot of the wild speculation.

-BH

-----Original Message-----From: Carla Martinek

Brian, my question was specific and *cultural* in its nature, and
directed at a geographical group of writers. The first wave of answers I
received focused on technical solutions, not cultural.

        Our programmers are looking at having people type in and/or
select a country
        for a specific software need. Right now they have defined the
entry for your area as
        "australia/nz".   (Other entries are "china," brazil," "russia,"
etc.)

        Are there any cultural issues with the two countries being
grouped together,
        and for the abbreviation to nz instead of New Zealand?
(lowercase is also the
        programmers' choice, but that's another issue.)

In your opinion, what additional information besides that shown above
was needed to provide an answer to the cultural question I asked? I felt
that what I provided was sufficient for the question at hand.

-C


> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+cmartinek=zebra -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+cmartinek=zebra -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On 
> Behalf Of Brian -dot- Henderson -at- mitchell1 -dot- com
> Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 8:21 AM
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: RE: Question for writers in New Zealand and Australia
>
> Ah yes...another customer has provided an incomplete description of 
> their needs, prompting the vendor to use extra resources to cover all 
> contingencies. Talk about classic.
>
> -Brian H.
>

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