2007/10/31, Nikola Smolenski <smolensk(a)eunet.yu>yu>:
As a mathematician, I believe you will appreciate the
metaphor of quantum
tunelling. The same way a particle can "tunnel" through an energy barrier it
would otherwise not be able to go through, a project could pass a "knowledge
barrier", if helped.
It can, but I don't see how that means that one way of helping them
(giving them a localized interface) would be superior to another way
of helping them (giving them a wiki to start with)
Localisation is an excellent example of this. We can
all agree that people are
less likely to contribute to a Wikipedia if there is no localisation.
Localisation, however, requires a technically competent person to do it. If a
given community has no such person, or all such persons are too preocupied
with other matters to do it in their free time, the localisation will not be
done. It might not be done for years, decades, or - ever.
And these years and decades are years and decades during which the project
won't be developed, or will be developed at a much slower rate.
So instead we don't allow it to develop at all? We just sit and wait,
don't work on other blockades until this one is resolved? That will
help a language grow!
I don't disagree that localization is a good thing, although I do
think its effect is smaller than you seem to think. In my view, the
first and foremost need is people - have 1 contributor, and the
project will probably die, have 3 and it's in serious danger, have 5
and it's likely to live, have 10 and it's ready thrive.
Still, having a localization would be a good thing. However, the issue
is: how much importance does it get, and how is it achieved. Currently
the situation is that it gets foremost importance, and is achieved by
withholding most other things a project would need or want (like an
own wiki and an official status) until it has been resolved. To me,
that's giving much too much importance to just one piece of what makes
a successful Wikipedia. Let the people from a Wikipedia language
decide for themselves what is important to their project at which
moment. Give them ample opportunities to localize their interface, and
point them towards the possibility, if necessary multiple times, but
if they still decide they'd rather work on a non-localized interface
rather than spend their time on localizing it, accept that in the end
it is their choice to make.
--
Andre Engels, andreengels(a)gmail.com
ICQ: 6260644 -- Skype: a_engels