The reasons that I'm pushing for a seperate domain for Wikijunior is:
- We need a stable version for kids, that kids and adults alike can't vandalise.
- We need a more kid-friendly skin and navigation for the MediaWiki, so curious kids don't get sidetracked in "Recently uploaded images" and the like.
- We need more attention for the project. We've got at least 55 contributors just to the Solar System book, which is fantastic, but we need perfection.
As Wikijunior develops past say, 50 books, we would benefit from a seperate editing wiki. While we're creating seperate and publishable reference works, the ability to merge them into one greater encyclopedic form.
On Robert's suggestion of Wikijunior being a "stealth" proposal, we've been around since mid-2004, I've had something relating to the project docked on the front page of the English Meta essentially daily since then, and the publicly accessible Board meeting minutes mention the creation of the project.
As for the assumption this is a pet project of "some board members", they've certainly helped us with their say in discussions and votes, but so have many, many other people.
Nick/Zanimum