On 7 Feb 2017, at 00:48, Jan van Steenbergen
<ijzeren.jan(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Also, unlike a decade ago, LangCom has expert
legitimacy and integrity
now, as well as a decade of experience. That's the reason why I don't
think that any group would use majority as a tool to push unreasonable
decisions.
Speaking of which... Would it be possible for me to apply for membership of the Langcom?
I've been following the discussions on this mailing list for about two years now, and
I hope I might be helpful to you.
A short introduction:
My name is Jan van Steenbergen, I'm 46 years old and I live in IJmuiden, the
Netherlands. I work as a professional translator and interpreter Polish <> Dutch.
Linguistics is both my work and my hobby. My main fields of interest are Slavic languages,
constructed languages, Cyrillic and Eastern Europe. My "language package" can be
found on my user page:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:IJzeren_Jan (mind, the
languages listed there are those that I have actually learned to some degree – there are
dozens of other languages I can understand, or know the basics of).
I've been editing Wikipedia sporadically since 2003 as an anonymous user, and have
been more active after I created my first user account in 2004. My home wiki is nlwiki,
where I am currently an admin. I've been editing several other language versions as
well, but less frequently.
As I already explained in my post about Lingua Franca Nova, when it comes to the question
whether a language should be allowed to have its own wiki or not, my primary criterion
would be viability/sustainability. In other words, does a potential project have good
perspectives for success? Obviously, a large community of native speakers is a good thing
to start with, but if a language has 50 mln. speakers and there is nobody willing to work
on a wiki, then the project is doomed to become a failure anyway. What we surely want to
avoid is dead wikis where practically every article is just three or four words. On the
other hand, if a language has no native speakers at all, yet it is still able to generate
a prospering wiki, then I am all for it. Even a wiki in a language without native speakers
can become a success, provided that the language is well-documented, stable and complete,
and provided that there are enough people willing to work on it. As far as I am concerned,
if a language is doing well in the Incubator for a longer period, that means it has passed
the exam.
Best regards,
Jan van Steenbergen
_______________________________________________
Langcom mailing list
Langcom(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/langcom