> Literally what do you think the words “some degree” mean to you personally?
I answered that in my first post! I can read a tiny tiny bit of Arabic. That puts me into the literal "some degree" group, but I am also definitely in the not-mattering group, because rendering mistakes with Arabic will not cause me any problems with reading.
> Posters have been able to pinpoint the number of fluent speakers, can you give me a ballpark to how many people matter and how many don’t matter?
Have they? But I don't have numbers, I'm just saying that "fluent" is too small and "some degree" is too big.
> This article about rendering text appropriately has taken such a fun turn into sorting folks into groups that “matter” and “don’t matter”?
Are you offended that I classify myself as not mattering in this very specific context? You don't have to make it sound like I'm saying people don't matter in general, jeez.
> If being rigid about these numbers is so important
If a number is worth busting out to make a point, it's worth being correct.
> how many people that don’t matter today might matter next year? How many people are learning arabic script?
What's your point? If the number changes, then use the new number. Don't use a wrong number because it might change later. Or if you have an expected future number, label it as such.
> How many might want to look up something written in arabic without it being rendered in absolute nonsense?
A lot of those people aren't even inside the "some degree" group, so now you're making a different argument. I'd rather not start any new tangents at this point, if you don't mind.