[Foundation-l] Belarusan Wikipedia

[Johannes Rohr]

Hi, 

I don't know if this is the right place for my complaint, but I was
taken by complete surprise by what has happened to the Belarusan
Wikipedia, i.e. the replacement of the existing bewiki (in "classical"
orthography by the incubator project in ("normative" orthography).

For one, there has, as far as I see, no formal request to close the
existing bewiki
(cf. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proposals_for_closing_projects ). 
To me it seems that the closure of a large, active
wiki must not go ahead without a prior proposal and debate.

Second, given the deadlock in the new languages creation process, I am
more than surprised, that for the new bewiki an exception was
possible.

Third, the most desirable path to be taken would have been to have a
single bewiki which accepts both variants, just as enwiki accepts both
British and American English. Have there been serious efforts in this
direction, prior to the current decision? A Belarusan user says at 

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Special_projects_subcommittees/Languages#Lack_of_transparency

,----
| That was the only cause, by which it was used mostly in be.wiki; but
| both systems were allowed to be used, and so-called "current" variant
| was also used there by minority which preferred it, and they didn't
| have any obstacles to contribute; administration welcomed contributors
| in all grammar versions.
`----

If this is true, I don't see, why the closure of the old bewiki was
inevitable.

Even if the two camps cannot be reconciled, I don't believe that the
closure of the existing project was necessary. The proponents of the
Belarusan normative wikipedia had requested bel.wikipedia.org rather
than be.wikipedia.org. Both projects could have existed in
parallel. This may be an ugly solution, but the current one is even
uglier.

Next, what strikes me is an apparent lack of transparency. At
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Requests_for_new_languages/Wikipedia_Belarusian_normative
I read:

,----
| The normative Belarusian Wikipedia has been created at
| be.wikipedia.org, with the alternative Belarusian Wikipedia moved to
| be-x-old.wikipedia.org by decision of the board of trustees on
| recommendation by the language subcommittee.
`----

I would say, that those who take such a drastic decision, that risks
to deter a large number of committed authors, should be required to
deliver a full explanation of their decision. The above brief
announcement is clearly insufficient. 

And lastly, if I understand the announcement at
http://be.wikipedia.org correctly, the old bewiki has been frozen, but
no decision has been taken concerning its future. This is just totally
incomprehensible to me. If langcom and the board of trustees make a
dramatic and far-reaching decision, they should make a /full/
decision, not a halfhearted one, which essentially leaves the existing
conflict open.

Forth, 

-- 
http://www.infoe.de/