What's with the funny "ß" character? ... Pedantic?

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This is an English "encyclopedia" right?

The "ß" is just an alternative (very German way) of writing "ss" (double s) right?

So why not write it in a way that English speakers understand?

It seems silly and pedantic to use the "ß" when "ss" is perfectly correct in both languages. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.7.10.7 (talk) 04:45, 21 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

The town's name is spelled with a ß. Take a look at their website and that is how they spell it. The fact that ß can be replaced with ss where no ß is available does not change that fact. You are correct that this is an English encyclopedia. The MOS does allow us to use the English name, such as for Munich (München) and Cologne (Köln), where we can show that there is a commonly accepted English name for the town. Altlußheim does not fall in that category, so the rule is where there is no commonly accepted English name, you fall back to the native name. Since we use the native name, we create a fallback by creating a redirect at Altlussheim. imars (talk) 06:33, 21 January 2010 (UTC)Reply
If you take a look at the article ß you'll also see that there is a pronunciation difference. "ss" is used after short vowels and "ß" is used after long vowels. imars (talk) 10:26, 21 January 2010 (UTC)Reply