[Zope3-dev] Re: RFC: Rename "principal" to "participant"

[Tom von Schwerdtner]

On 9/12/05, Tonico Strasser <contact_tonico at yahoo.de> wrote:
> Philipp von Weitershausen schrieb:
> ...
> 
> > So, I would like to give "principal" a better name. How about
> > "participant"? After all, a principal _participates_ in an interaction
> > through a participation (e.g. an HTTP request). Participant should also
> > be pretty easy to translate: it's a common word, especially outside IT
> > vocubulary, which means chances are good to find appropriate native
> > translations for it.
> >
> > (Note that the point of finding translations for technical terms is not
> > only for the sake of a translated Zope 3 UI. It's more about how people
> > understand technical terms. I think most Zope 3 developers aren't native
> > English speakers and they do not necessarily think in English. So, good
> > words that have good native translations help the understanding process
> > on their end. That is not only important for _learning_ a concept, but
> > also for _explaining_ it. As a book author, I know what I'm talking
> > about... :))
> >
> > Hope to hear some comments,
> 
> Here the obligatory dumb question: why is it not called user?

It might be worth considering that the term "user" has a mostly
negative connotation in English (at least in the USA).

IMO anyways, I don't have any data to back this up.

-Tom