When does a generation end?

[Wonktonodi]

Dodece said:
I have always held the belief that the simplest definition is almost always the preferable one. On a fundamental level it is easier to discuss the context surrounding a fact. Then it is to have a ambiguous fact. A great many of you seem to be making this harder then it has to be. Having a fact doesn't mean you can't put it in context, but it does give you a base line to start from. All you basically need is two qualifiers to describe events prior to that specific date, and events after that specific date. In the context of this forum you would qualify your comments as generational sales, or post generational sales.

If your going to go so far as to introduce transitional phases. Then wouldn't it just be incredibly simple to lump all of them into post generational sales. That way you can get to the point that much faster. You can talk about one, the other, or both as in cumulative. I mean this could save you tens of thousands of words of exposition. Why would you want to write pages of explanation. When you could just sum it up with one or two words.

The world doesn't provide us with points of reference, but that doesn't mean we haven't created them to make our lives easier. We created calendars, clocks, rulers, and scales. So we didn't have to waste precious time trying to create agreed upon definitions every time we tried to arrange something. We just set standards that we could all use.

I don't see how creating a singular point of reference that isn't dependent upon a slew of variables would be a bad thing to do. It seems to me that it is what practical people do. Since all discussion of the next generations starts at the launch of the Wii U it makes sense to make that the line. Competition isn't even a good answer, because it isn't necessary for the Wii U to be what it is.

Can anyone make a argument for why a singular simple point of reference would be a bad thing for discussion on these forums. Beyond it ruining some trollish fun for those that like to play on semantics.

so since you don't like the idea of two generations at a time you want to split a generation in two?

does that mean we can now say the genesis beat the snes? and it was only post generation sales that made the snes sell more?