I made a Pingtype English for language exchange the other way, and that uses IPA instead of Pinyin. I often find that users prefer ㄅㄆㄇㄈ though (which I derive from IPA).
Not at all! English has really strong historical roots for its spelling, but these could be eliminated even without IPA. Spelling could be standardized instead of staying historical. ("Speling kud bee stenderdized insted uv staying historikel".) Even within ASCII.
I was pointing out that the parent poster fails to realize that English itself has a "complicated old writing system" with "historical and cultural value". Just as having different characters allows for homophones to be recognized easily, English does the same thing with many words that sound the same (sea/see/C, or to/two/too, etc.) There is a lot of history or culture in English spelling, for example all the silent -e endings.
aɪ heɪt tu seɪ ðɪs, bʌt aɪ doʊnt si ðə pɔɪnt ɪn meɪnˈteɪnɪŋ ˈkɑmpləˌkeɪtəd oʊld ˈraɪtɪŋ ˈsɪstəmz. (aɪ min, ʌv kɔrs aɪ si ðə hɪˈstɔrɪkəl ænd ˈkʌlʧərəl ˈvælju, bʌt aɪ doʊnt si waɪ ʃʊd ˈpipəl kip ˈjuzɪŋ ɪt) ju raɪt eɪ "nu" ʧaɪˈniz ˈkɛrɪktər ænd ðɛn ðɛr ɪz: eɪ) noʊ weɪ tu ˌrɛprəˈzɛnt ɪt ɑn ə kəmˈpjutər ənˈlɛs ju drɔ ɪt bi) noʊ weɪ ʌv ˈnoʊɪŋ haʊ ɪts prəˈnaʊnst
ˈlætən, səˈrɪlɪk, ˈærəbɪk, ˈhibru (ˈoʊˈkeɪ, ðeɪ hæv sʌm ˈkɑmən ruts), kɔˈriən ɑr mʌʧ mɔr meɪnˈteɪnəbl ænd "ˈpɔrtəbəl".
noʊ, ʧaɪˈniz woʊnt bi ðə nu ˈɪŋglɪʃ. ju gɛt tu raɪt ænd kənˈvɜrs ɪn ˈɪŋglɪʃ ɪn ə ʃɔrt taɪm freɪm (1 jɪr). nɑt ʧaɪˈniz. ænd ˈsɜrtənli ðə ˈlɜrnɪŋ kɜrv gɛts ˈstipər ðə ˈfɜrðər ju goʊ.