[Wikipedia-l] Lingala Wikipedia

[Jimmy Wales]

Mark Williamson wrote:
> What _is_ the most effective way to get there?
> 
> Surely, not by having it so that the sole administrator is the user
> with the worst Lingala out of the three?

Eventually, of course.  But it certainly depends on the particular
people involved.  If the sole administrator is doing a good job and is
actively working to get more people involved, then why not?  Better to
have an experienced wikipedian assisting there than to abandon them.

The point is, I see no reason for *us* to interfere.  If the other users
have a complaint, then that's a different matter.

> User:Bombo, lists himself as ln-0, likes to post articles in French,
> has made almost no contributions that could even be argued to be
> helping ln.wiki;

I don't know the user.  Perhaps a French speaker can contact him and ask
what's up?

> User:Moyogo, lists himself as ln-1, is responsible for most of the
> interface but has made some significant good contributions with actual
> Lingala;

Why say "but" instead of "and"?  The work on the interface is important
and good, too.

> Which of these people is the one who so desparately needs the French
> interface?

I'm not thinking of them.  I'm thinking of newcomers.  Again, it seems
fairly likely to me that there are fluent French speakers who are weak
in Lingala who would be happy to come and help out.  Having the dual
interface for a little while seems more or less fine to me.  When they
want to fix it, I'm sure they will.  Why are you bothered about it?

> If anyone needs to use a French interface, remember that they can
> choose it in their personal preferences, or even by adding something
> to the end of each URL (uselang=fr).

I'm thinking of likely newcomers.

> "Up to them" -- it makes sense to leave such decisions up the local
> community in most cases, but in cases like this, the local community
> is little more qualified than are you or I -- Bombo, one of the three
> active users, doesn't seem to know any Lingala at all. If he gets to
> decide, why can't I? What if I start posting heaps of French articles,
> does that mean that suddenly I get to help with the decision because
> now I'm part of the community?

*sigh*  Please try to relax.  A deep breath.  Bombo is most likely
someone who very strongly shares your core values.  He's trying to help.
 Maybe you don't agree with what he's doing, or maybe I don't agree with
it.  But Assume Good Faith.

> Neither Themalau nor Moyogo seem to be in favour of keeping the
> etrefas bilingual, and they're the only two users with very good
> Lingala.

Ok, well, I'm quite sure they'll do as they see fit.  Trust them.

--Jimbo