Now, the only reason I'm responding is because I actually care about this crazy place and because
@Carpetsmoker lives in the same country as I do (which might help me to better picture the whole issue considering that we (probably) use the same native language).
Having that out of the way; I think this isn't the right place to discuss all this. And I'm not saying so because it's in the rules somewhere, but because I honestly believe this. Thing is; this won't solve anything. You feel strongly about the use of the
& character; I could then weigh in that during my (almost) one year stay and hundreds of responses I don't even recall ever using this character myself, apart from shell script related posts I suppose. Leading up to a totally pointless and fruitless discussion or maybe even worse. It's really not worth it.
Another problem; let's say a moderator now publically agrees here. Sure, you should be able to use your
& character. What if (note the
if, this is just a theory of mine) this is then picked up by "others" and
& gets (ab)used all over the place? Of course when being changed back they all point back to the public thread: "
But x said we could!".
As said it's just a (far fetched?) theory and I'm sure also nothing the moderators won't be able to handle. But it will make their lives harder for a while, and in my personal opinion (no offense intended here); it's basically for nothing.
If you have a beef with how
your message got changed then take it up with the moderator who changed it in person; using a private message. If you can back up your claim and also make some good arguments as to why you feel that particular aspect shouldn't have been changed then chances are high that the specific part in your message will be changed right back again. This has happened to me only once (if I recall correctly), but most certainly not more than two times.
Edit: And if the moderator doesn't agree with your arguments then I'm quite sure that you will be given some counter-arguments in return. So at least you'll know why your message got changed and based on what grounds. If that's the case then I think you really have little options left. In the end it is their playground after all. I suppose you could then check for moderators versus administrators, but if you've reached that point then I personally would say it's time for some serious self-reflection as well. But that's just my personal opinion.
However, if you're commenting on someone else's messages then, once again no offense intended here, I don't think you have much grounds to complain. After all; it wasn't even your message in the first place. I've also had parts of a message struck out (when I just got here), and I suppose that if I'd really want to I could simply edit that post and remove all of that myself. Problem solved.
Thing is: I don't want to. Because every time I went over that post (I don't recall which one, and I can't be bothered to look it up) it reminded me: "Oh yeah; FreeBSD instead of
fbsd or
freebsd" (self moderation at work
). And it probably also set an example to others who read my post: "
Aha, they really want you to use the proper writing..."
Mission accomplished in my opinion. In the end we all benefit.
As to your particular comment on the Ampersand character; I think it depends on context but personally I wouldn't have a problem with it. Bottom line here is not to take any of this personally, because it isn't. This isn't only about you or about being "right" or "wrong"; it's also trying to make this place more accessible for others as well. And that's where the Dutch heritage comes in: what maybe pretty common or normal English for us can be totally arcane or "difficult" for others.
Just my take on this particular matter, and also my only take. As said; in my opinion it's not very beneficial to discuss such topics in public, for reasons I shared above.