That's not true. Although the vast majority of Arabs are raised on a local variety, there are a small number whose native language is indeed Modern Standard Arabic. Imagine, perhaps, that their father is a well-educated Moroccan and their mother is a well-educated Syrian, and they were raised in Yemen.

There is already an Arabic Wikipedia - I'm assuming its in Standard Arabic. I think Crazy Lover's point was that the native speaking audience requirement was flawed, because few people speak Standard Arabic as a native language. I think that falls under the "exceptions can be made" rule of common sense, and the language policy itself is, I think, flexible enough to make use of a major language even if the number of native speakers is small. This was discussed previously, but can anyone point me to the thread where GerardM and others discussed what proportion of the world's population did not have a Wikimedia project in a language they speak, and also what proportion is unrepresented with a native language project? It seems like the focus ought to be on recruiting people who speak the languages of the projects we already have, rather than tweaking our policies to get the maximum number of empty projects. Stupid question, perhaps - I know Wikimedia projects don't accept advertising, but do we advertise ourselves? Main page banners of popular projects asking for native speakers to contribute in other projects, banners on websites of local or national popularity in areas where the number of our contributors are small, etc.? I'm thinking of the CIA's banner ads, like the one with an Arabic phrase and then an English one that says "If you can read this, and you're an American citizen, you could work for the CIA." Nathan On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 11:15 AM, Andrew Whitworth <wknight8111(a)gmail.com>wrote;wrote: _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l

On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 11:15 AM, Andrew Whitworth <wknight8111(a)gmail.com> wrote: [snip] ...and without prejudiced assumptions about what languages are the "right" or "best" for a person based on the accident of their geographic location or ethnic heritage. Thank you for making your point.

Hoi. Given the current practice, this whole issue is irrelevant. There is an Arab project and this will continue to be the case. Thanks, GerardM On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 4:44 PM, Crazy Lover <always_yours.forever(a)yahoo.com _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l

Hoi, No I did not. Thanks, GerardM On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 10:07 PM, Mark Williamson <node.ue(a)gmail.com> wrote: _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l

Hoi, So it is for you to decide that I did not get the point, not having made that point in the first place ?? Thanks, GerardM On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 10:35 PM, Mark Williamson <node.ue(a)gmail.com> wrote: _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l

Hoi, So it is for you to decide that I did not get the point, not having made that point in the first place ?? Thanks, GerardM On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 10:35 PM, Mark Williamson <node.ue(a)gmail.com> wrote: _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l