# Better terms for watching (and tracking?)

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/better-terms-for-watching-and-tracking/61038>\
**Category:** UX\
**Created:** [15 أبريل 2017، 5:17م UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/better-terms-for-watching-and-tracking/61038 "2017-04-15T17:17:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 6

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**Author:** ![Remah](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/remah/32/70590_2.png) [@Remah](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Remah)\
**Post date:** [16 أبريل 2017، 12:21ص UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/better-terms-for-watching-and-tracking/61038/6 "2017-04-16T00:21:18Z")

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[quote="tophee, post:1, topic:61038]  
I am pretty sure that there is nothing in “watching” that makes it a more intense activity than “tracking”. Indeed, my personal semantics suggest that tracking is more intense than watching ("I watch my daughter play by the pond, but I don’t track every step of her as long as she doesn’t get too close to the water’).  
[/quote]

Sorry, but this is just plain wrong. 😢 You misuse the primary and common meaning of ‘tracking’. Then choose an inappropriate attribute to compare it with ‘watching’.

The difference is primarily in observation and secondarily in proximity. Tracking is following a trail to find something because you cannot see it. Watched means visible, I.e. direct, observation which implies closer proximity.

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