On 27/03/07, Andre Engels <andreengels(a)gmail.com> wrote:
2007/3/27, Erik Moeller <erik(a)wikimedia.org>rg>:
As far as Gerard and I have talked about this
issue and I understand
it, it seems like a sensible policy to me. If you want a new language,
it should not be that difficult to at least prepare the groundwork for
MediaWiki localization before you start. If you cannot even get that
organized, how are you ever going to write a useful encyclopedia?
What if your interest is in writing an encyclopedia, and not in translating
software? If you have 10 people happily writing articles, but none of them
having interest in going through all 200+ MediaWiki-pages, does that mean
that it can never be an encyclopedia?
Exactly. There is a lot of crud in the MediaWiki messages. Even when
you start a new wiki in English, how many people go through the
messages to localise them and create all the referenced pages such as
Project:About? (I sure don't.) As opposed to, how many dive into the
exciting project of content creation?
Why is localisation so important? The messages will be translated as
the wiki progresses. I am not convinced that localisation before
launch is more likely to ensure a successful project. Is there some
research or some cases that show this?
regards,
Brianna
user:pfctdayelise