On 2/18/06, Mark Gallagher m.g.gallagher@student.canberra.edu.au wrote:
G'day Jimmy,
The Germans have a nice way of putting it on the front page:
"Gute Autorinnen und Autoren sind immer willkommen – die ersten Schritte sind ganz einfach."
This means:
"Good authors are always welcome - the first steps are quite easy!"
Contrast with the English:
"Welcome to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit."
I am not advocating a change (nor opposing it); I am just making an observation.
I like that idea. I do have a question for the Germans, though: on en-WP we often get trolls and vandals arguing that they can't be blocked because "it says anyone has the right to edit, and I'm 'anyone'!" Do trolls on de-WP say "it says good authors are always welcome, and I'm a good author!"?
(Sorry, whimsical mood. It'll pass.)
-- Mark Gallagher "What? I can't hear you, I've got a banana on my head!"
- Danger Mouse
Possibly (but in German, of course), but their contributions would say otherwise (e.g. If an editor vandalised George W. Bush with "HEIL HITLER", it's obviously not a good edit.
-- -Sceptre http://tintower.co.uk