2005/11/22, Jimmy Wales <jwales at wikia.com>:
- To discourage the creation of new Wikipedia editions in dialects
which do not significantly differ from existing Wikipedias. We want to keep from being hoaxed, and from falling into political traps.
For dialects, then, we want to require a much higher threshold before allowing the wikipedia -- we need a good reason to start it. A "Bavarian" Wikipedia proposal would need a much much stronger rationale before we start it than "German". Obviously.
This point isn't enough to clarify when whe should or should not create a new dialect wikipedia, because it's using the unique criteria of interlegibility. By exemple, Catalan (my native lang) and Occitan are mutually interlegible in text written, or between Neapolitan and Italian. And for some persons Portuguese and Spanish are interlegible too, but they are considered as independent languages. I think that perhaps the point to consider the inclusion of a new dialect wikipedia would be better moving around the exclusionist-inclusionist poles.
I mean when you want a new wiki in a dialect with important linguistic particularities that today are being actually assumed as "proper" of another language, so you wouldn't need a Wikipedia if there exists a Wikipedia in those language. In this case, wikimedia should adopt an exclusionist attitude.
But when you want a new wiki in a dialect with particularities wich are being rejected (or considered as "bizarre", etc.) or aren't assumed as "proper" by the most nearest languages, perhaps you and your linguistic community would need a Wikipedia. In this case, wikimedia should adopt an inclusionist attitude.
Let's see a practical and real exemple. If we see the cases about a new wikipedias proposals in Murcian and in Andalusian, most people who are opposing these are Spanish-speakers, but the reasons are different. In the case of Andalusian, Spanish-speakers opposers are saying that "Andalusian was always considered as a developed form of Spanish" (that is, the most possible future form of Spanish language). They are being "inclusionist" with Andalusian dialect, accepting the andalusian particularities as proper. In opposition of it, about Murcian, Spanish-speakers opposers are saying that writting "Murcian is a bizarre/coloquially/speech/deformed Spanish used in Murcia region". It would mean also that they perhaps have some interlegibility difficulties, and aren't assuming as "proper" form. So they are being "exclusionist" with Murcian.
And, according to exclusionist-inclusionist poles, Wikimedia would be able to have a exclusionist attitude with Andalusian, but being inclusionist with Murcian. Of course, it's only my own opinion.
Cheers!
Joanot Martorell, (not real name, but real person)
-- Viquipèdia, l'enciclopèdia lliure. http://ca.wikipedia.org