is there an australian version of this site?

Your question is in two parts so I'll answer both parts. 1. Most Americans assume that the majority of sites they see are American made. They don't see ".us" at the end of the address and therefore think said site wasn't made for overseas. They assume the site is mostly populated by Americans. 2. The majority of American's probably aren't aware that the US is far from being a technological leader. But that's just opinion, not fact.

You make a good point.

I've had this conversation before and I was told by a very opinionated citizen of the 'Land of the Free' that if a website address ends with .com it IS American, so live with it. He wasn't convinced that BA.com was British because the BA stands for BRITISH Airways, I suppose we just have to put up with being a minority hanging onto the coat tails of the good ol' US of A.

The ability to have a spontaneous conversation with people around the world while sitting on your bed is relatively new. It may take awhile for it to become thoroughly integrated. I am not convinced it means that Americans believe they are superior. In any case, it is a generalization to say Americans believe they are superior in terms of technology or anything else. Do generalizations reveal more about the subject of them or the person who makes them?

As an american I have never asked an "in this country" question and recognize that Japan is probably the world's leader in technology.

I have but one thing to say regarding the americans not being the leaders in technology. True we may trail in certain areas of technology,but I have yet to see any other country land someone on the moon and then return them safely to earth.Or any other country with a reusable spacecraft much less a fleet of them. Or a stealth bomber. Japan may have an edge on us technologically.But we(as in the human race)would not be as technologically advanced as we are if it wasn't for the Americans inventing the internet so information could be shared with others.

We have here two very different questions! 1) I also noticed US-centrism by submissions. I am well aware of this issue because I am French and I live in Germany. There is probably a majority of US-based Answerbaggers, because Answerbag started from there. Many Answerbaggers assume this too, and formulate their submissions for the majority of the users, i.e. the US-based, thinking that the other users would understand. In some cases, this assumption could annoy not US-based users, and they would like to tell that there are also people from somewhere else on AB. This should be done without anger, the best would be with humor. I made some posting in this sense. 2) I do not think that a single country could pretend to have the world leadership in all technological fields. However, in the last 60 years, the U.S. have been doing a great work in many technological fields and for technology as a whole, they have probably done more than any other single country. 3) I found an interesting text about the US and technological leadership, here an excerpt: "[Question:] Does the United States still lead in tech? [...] [Answer:] While I still think the USA leads the question is debatable in various fields and [...] the future looks to be moving in the other direction. This is more due to the rest of the World improving than the USA failing. The continued reduction in advanced science and engineering degrees awarded to USA citizens compared to the rest of the world is a leading indicator I believe. Along with my belief that we will attract fewer leaders to the USA than we have in the past." Source (the rest of the text is also very interesting): http://engineering.curiouscatblog.net/2007/07/07/economic-strength-through-technology-leadership/

For as much as you seem not to like Americans assuming this is an US-only site, you make a couple poor assumptions. One, people (Americans, I presume) don't "always assume" AB is used only by Americans. Many questions and answers indlude the phrase 'in my country' or 'in the states.' I believe it's a minority of people who treat this site as though it's not viewed outside the US. Secondly, I think "Americans in general" do recognize that technological advances are made every day in countries all over the world. Believe me, the typical American will probably buy a foreign car or piece of electronic equipment developed overseas specifically because they trust the technology. Assumptions made from any perspective are dangerous and usually incorrect.

1. Perhaps they just assume others know THEY are American. Or maybe they are relating to the majority. Based upon this question: http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/77788 , most ABers are American, with UK and perhaps Asia after that. 2. What does that have to do with the first question? Perhaps you meant, are we aware there is internet in other countries? I find that Americans become arrogant only when other people automatically assume they are, just because they have pride in their country OR, oh my god, don't consider in every situation they do that there are countries outside of the US. America is locked by water on two sides, Canada and Mexico on the other two sides. The other side of the world does not effect America as much as they seem to think it does. Therefore, it's only logical that Americans don't think about it that much. Don't take it personally, and don't take it as ignorance, it's just that Americans tend to have a lot of apathy for things that do not apply to them.

Maybe because the United States of America is the second-strongest nation in the world (the other is Luxembourg), and that most AnswerBaggers are probably Americans, but I hate it when people think that Americans are the only ones that use AB. I'll have to agree with you totally on that one!

Ok, i'm sat in my house, in lil' old england (which is prob about the size of 1 us state, but i don't mind!) - i have noticed that the majority of people on here, from what i've seen, appear to be american or canadian, but none that i've spoken to seem to have this opinion, they all seem friendly to me, and certainly don't make out that the us is 'leader in technology in the world' - but that's just my opinion, to be honest i've never even thought bout asking people if they thought that! anyway, on that note, i've only got one thing left to say - RULE BRITANNIA! HA HA, only playin!! x x

I know the site isn't used only by Americans, however I am use to debating in an only american setting, so if I slip up and say "we" or "our domestic policy" let it slide :P

Not everyone always assumes that the site is only used by Americans, however there was one question where I asked "Should we get rid of the British Aristocracy?" http://www.answerbag.co.uk/q_view/1330414 and one of the first response was: "If "we" are us Americans, how on earth would we get rid of the British Aristocracy? Have we already invaded the UK or is it wishful thinking? Please don't try to make me laugh because it is not funny it is absolute lack of knowledge and lack of respect for an allied nation." For which I had to reply with: "The category is "British Politics", the question is asked on the answerbag.co.uk site, I have made reference on another answer to me possibly being one of the ones that got killed and my profile states that I live in the UK, so I would have thought it fairly obvious that by "we" I was referring to the British people." So it DOES happen that Americans can easily forget that there are other nationalities that use the site.