Hello, On 4/6/07, Brion Vibber <brion(a)wikimedia.org> wrote: Indeed. Though translators really do their best, it is very difficult to achieve translation of all candidate's statements. Last time the statements were *suggested* not to exceed 1,000 characters [1]. Some rules must be changed. I suggest the following extra rules : * For the pre-(s)election candidates, only a *short presentation* (~50 words) ; easy and fast to translate, even for many candidates. These statements may be translated only in « big » languages, i.e. those of the most developed projects. * For the final candidates, *no more than 150 words*. These statements should be translated in as many languages as possible. * All statements *must* be written in simple words, simple sentences without any idioms. * All candidates *must* write their statement in all languages they speak. They know what they want to say better than anyone, so it's better to have a rough translation by themselves that will be refined later than a well-written serious mistranslation. To the future candidates: respect the work of translators. Last time, some candidates largely exceeded the characters limit. Their statements were however translated because the translators felt a moral obligation to translate them. Though, such an attitude from candidates shows a disrespect to our volunteer translators. So, if you long to be a community representative, first respect the community by following these simple rules. Thanks. [1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Election_candidates_2006/En -- Guillaume Paumier [[m:User:guillom]] http://www.wikimedia.org