On 6/7/2010 5:25 PM, Aphaia wrote:
True, but it reminded me on the time English Wikipedia
sanctioned
non-latin script usernames and blocked them indefinitely and forced
them to rename for months. At that time many English Wikipedia sysops
supported this idea and much more of them were indifferent. If I
recall correctly, no board member offered any complaint on that as you
stated now.
That's before I joined the board, but actually Florence, who was chair
of the board then, definitely did speak up on that issue at the time.
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2006-December/059034.html
I think I can understand your frustration but still I
feel it
overreaction. I need to say unconcious Anglocentric hegemony on
Wikimedia project is sometimes irritating, not only the recent
suppression of "other language" links, and English speaking people
should be much more aware of that, rest their complaints won't be
listened to, even in case it is valid by itself, like in this case.
The specific case here isn't so much the issue, it's an example to
illustrate the larger concern about how we make our culture insular and
closed, such that the environment seems hostile to others. Certainly
English-speaking people are as responsible for that as any other part of
our community, if not more, as your example illustrates. But given the
seriousness implications this has for the overall health of our
community in the long term, I don't think it's an overreaction to want
to address it.
--Michael Snow