---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Frederick Noronha fred@bytesforall.org Date: 26-Apr-2007 09:24 Subject: Re: [Wikipedia-l] Deletions, speedy deletions... and retributions... To: wikipedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
On 26/04/07, Ronald Chmara ron@opus1.com wrote:
Managing/having a mailing list is not notable, managing a website is not notable, managing a journal is not notable, nor is being a journalist, nor being a frequent F/OSS contributor, nor starting a ...
I'm not talking about just about any kid managing a mailing list, but rather the guy who started this (and which today plays a significant role in a media-poor society): http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-news-goanet.org/2003-August/000276....
Why would, for instance, Jimmy Wales' work at a global scale be considered perfectly legitimate (and, of course, it is) but not Herman Carneiro's at a Goa level? How does your above grid fit this comparison? Or, do we accept hierarchies of importance, which are very much defined by the same old traditional concepts that have been dominating encyclopaedias over the centuries (and which the Wikipedia is an alternative to in the first place)?
Yet, Herman Carneiro is considered "non-notable" by Wikipedia's standards!
And who has the energy to fight every single deletion decision?
It's just very discouraging to be a contributor to the Wikipedia these days.... you tend to feel untrusted, with every attempt at volunteering seen as suspect! Okay, growth and fame (of the Wikipedia) comes at a price... so are we being victims of our own (Wikipedia's) success?
Those making the decisions also need to realise that there's no such thing as a "global standard". It's not fair to take a standard from NY and apply it to Goa, India (population 1.3 million, a rustic society till forty years ago!)
It's hard, if not impossible, for us guys to cope with your standards. I've been a professional journalist for 23 years, and yet giving references to my work (in the format Wikipedia expects) doesn't come naturally to me, as it would, say, to some professional librarian or research scholar in the University of Technology, Sydney, for instance!
Just out of curiosity, I wonder how many who decide on deletions grew up in rustic societies in the global South. And I don't mean Australia or New Zealand :-) or appreciate the realities from those parts of the planet... FN/Frederick Noronha.
-- FN M: 0091 9822122436 P: +91-832-240-9490 (after 1300IST please) http://fn.goa-india.org http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com Konkani Wikipedia (under incubation) needs your help! http://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/kok
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