Birgitte Arco wrote:
I hesitate to write this because it might seem
self-serving in a dispute I am involved in. But
truthfully I am thinking of the larger picture here.
There is a discussion on the Talk page for the English
Wikipedia Main Page under "Sister projects on new Main
Page". The main sticking point in this discussion is
the people from the English Wikipedia truly believe
they know what Wikisource is or is not and want to
write a description, but are unable to understand that
people from Wikisource have a better idea of what
Wikisource is than they do. Of course that statement
is inherently biased, but everyone involved has the
best intentions. For my part everyone there has been
completely civil and willing to explain themselves.
Unfortunately there is a prevailing attitude that
people from a "different" project should not decide
how they are represented in the Sister project
template. This is over a minor wording issue and I am
not asking people to intercede on this. However if
you read through the comments, it is easy to see how
easily this could have devolved into complete
bitterness. I hope that outcome has been avoided now.
I worry that in the future a similar issue may come up
and things will turn out worse. I believe fostering a
sence of harmony and cooperation between sister
projects is the utmost importance. I wonder if it
would be best for wikimedia to have an agreed upon
sister project template at meta for each necessary
language, with the recommendation that all daughter
projects base thier local Sister project templates
from the meta one. This would provide an authorative
example of what is acceptable and should hopefully
prevent any future turf wars.
Thanks for considering this. I would suggest if this
idea is implented; it is done without any haste and is
well-advertised amoung all sister projects in many
languages.
It's an interesting question that puts a number of issues into a
microcosm, particularly the right of a person to edit an article about
himself. Still, I don't agree with your proposed solution.
A very important principle in the development of sister projects and
language sub-projects has been the autonomy of each project. This is
something that I have strongly defended from the earliest days of both
Wiktionary and Wikisource. It can leed to some peculiar anomalies in
Wikipedia when articles on the same subject in different languages are
completely different, or even contradictory. Some may find that state
of things to be unacceptably disturbing, but to me it reflects a rich
vibrancy.
Common policy threads may run through all projects, but there is and
should be a great deal of latitude in determining the specific
application of a policy in each project. A policy may be thoroughly
discussed before it is applied to its originating project to the
complete satisfaction of that community's members. If, however,
someone presumes that a Wikipedia consensus authorizes the application
of a policy to any other project he will quite rightly meet stiff
opposition; the other project was never a part of the original consensus
or vote.
Thus the article about Wikisource in Wikipedia should follow Wikipedia
rules about articles in its principal namespace. In that context
Wikisource is no different than someone whose biography appears in
Wikipedia.
Eclecticology