Parse numbers or add syntax for automated metric/imperial conversions

Question

Could you either parse the text or add a syntax for converting numbers(kg/lb, liter/gallon, etc.) between metric and imperial? Possibly by showing the original input, but if I hover it with the mouse, it'll display it in the alternate scale.

Suggestion 1

Simply parse the numbers as written, though this can be harder, and may have undesirable side effects.

Suggestion 2

Simply allow people to wrap measurements in brackets, like [1kg], and it'll get parsed into a way that displays both 1kg and 2.20lbs.

Answer 1

I do not think we should be doing any automatic conversion. I do not think we should have optional unit-conversion tags. I do not think there should choose either Imperial or metric to be the site standard.

An optional syntax to have both units display would inevitably become de rigeur, making it a conflict between editors adding the brackets and new users not knowing the syntax. I don't think that's a good outcome. We'd also be introducing a SE-specific design wackiness in the body of questions and answers, instead of sticking to the easily-understood standard of text with common, limited markup.

Further, I'm not sure that we're addressing a real problem here. Some people think in pounds, other people think in kilos. Converting is simply not that big a deal. I don't naturally think in kilos, but I get better at it every time I'm forced to.

Answer 2

I have no power to actually make this change (that'll have to go through SE HQ), but I'd suggest introducing the concept of "context" in a user's profile. That context would include expected units of measurement, allowing proper display for each user. The user's country could be used to guess at a reasonable default.

A bigger issue is getting posters to actually use some appropriate tag to represent units of measurement in their posts, so I wonder how much the feature would get used for that reason. Trying to automatically parse the text seems iffy... the best approach might be to introduce the new tags for the users, and also parse the text but have the parse result as review items that need to be human-approved before being swapped in.