[Foundation-l] [Langcom-l] Ancient Greek reconstructed an analysis of a proposal for a new Wikipedia

M. Williamson node.ue at gmail.com
Tue Sep 20 17:51:27 UTC 2011


Holy ancient thread revival, Batman!

This seems like a good idea... but in the case of Wikisource, wouldn't that
already be covered by multilingual Wikisource?


2011/9/20 とある白い猫 <to.aru.shiroi.neko at gmail.com>

> I think we may want a "historic texts" wikisource/wikibooks particularly
> for
> texts in now extinct languages. Something sort of like commons for historic
> texts for all extinct languages. I do not know something like this was
> proposed before.
>
>  -- とある白い猫  (To Aru Shiroi Neko)
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 12:10, Mark Williamson <node.ue at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Well, we're not discussing Latin, are we? They already have every
> > project besides Wikiversity, as far as I know, so there is no need to
> > discuss approval of Latin projects.
> >
> > Mark
> >
> > On 18/04/2008, Gerard Meijssen <gerard.meijssen at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Hoi,
> > >  If that is all you want to discuss, the status quo is that Ancient
> > Greek has
> > >  been denied. I do not want to discuss Ancient Greek only. If that is
> > all we
> > >  are discussing, I am done talking.
> > >  Thanks,
> > >       GerardM
> > >
> > >
> > >  On Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 12:03 PM, Mark Williamson <node.ue at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > >  > Stop saying Latin, we already have a Wikipedia in Latin. We are
> > >  > discussing the denial of a Wikipedia for Ancient Greek.
> > >  >
> > >  > Mark
> > >  >
> > >  > On 17/04/2008, Pharos <pharosofalexandria at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >  > > On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 5:51 PM, Jesse Martin (Pathoschild)
> > >  > >  <pathoschild at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >  > >  >  Further, I've painstakingly followed every thread in this
> > >  > discussion,
> > >  > >  >  and I have not seen any strong argument for allowing languages
> > >  > nobody
> > >  > >  >  uses natively. Wikimedia wikis exist to make the sum of human
> > >  > >  >  knowledge available to everyone, not to practice or preserve
> > >  > >  >  languages.
> > >  > >  >
> > >  > >  >  I think the argument that they act as a common language for
> > scholars
> > >  > >  >  of the ancient language is not valid; we are not a forum for
> > >  > academic
> > >  > >  >  exchange.
> > >  > >
> > >  > >
> > >  > > You have to remember that "everyone" includes people who consider
> > >  > >  written-only languages a part of their intellectual sphere.  If
> > >  > >  Wikimedia was around 500 years ago, would we deny Latin for
> purely
> > >  > >  ideological reasons, even though it was very widely used in
> > >  > >  literature?  And though that use has declined greatly for Latin
> > and
> > >  > >  similar classical languages, I do not think we can say that such
> a
> > use
> > >  > >  is dead, nor can we at all predict the future course for such
> > >  > >  languages.
> > >  > >
> > >  > >  And is it not true that certain topics are best researched in
> > certain
> > >  > >  languages?  If one were to collect writers from around the world
> > to
> > >  > >  write an encyclopedia article on medieval ecclesiastical history,
> > >  > >  based on the most relevant and important sources, would not the
> > >  > >  optimal language for collaboration be Latin?  And if one were to
> > write
> > >  > >  an encyclopedia article on early 20th century artificial
> > languages,
> > >  > >  would not the optimal language for collaboration be Esperanto?
> > >  > >
> > >  > >  Surely such articles, written in one context but translated into
> > many
> > >  > >  other languages, would be very valuable to all of our Wikipedia
> > >  > >  editions.
> > >  > >
> > >  > >  Not that I agree with Gerard's specific proposal, but the case
> for
> > >  > >  Wikipedias in written-only languages is quite clear to me.
> > >  > >
> > >  > >  Thanks,
> > >  > >
> > >  > > Pharos
> > >  > >
> > >  > >
> > >  > >  _______________________________________________
> > >  > >  foundation-l mailing list
> > >  > >  foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> > >  > >  Unsubscribe:
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
> > >  > >
> > >  >
> > >  > _______________________________________________
> > >  > foundation-l mailing list
> > >  > foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> > >  > Unsubscribe:
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
> > >  >
> > >  _______________________________________________
> > >  foundation-l mailing list
> > >  foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> > >  Unsubscribe:
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
> > >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > foundation-l mailing list
> > foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
> >
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-l mailing list
> foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>



More information about the wikimedia-l mailing list