Dear Shiju,
On Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 2:14 PM, Shiju Alex shijualexonline@gmail.com wrote:
IEP volunteers
The discussion started off with the India Program report and I believe that IEP is completely part of IP. Moreover, they are Wikipedia volunteers from IEP as it is their reference/starting point, just like you refer yourself as Malyalam Wikipedia volunteer in your signature.
You may also refer to some old mail about IEP by Ashwin and also Tory Read's report about IEP. The relationship of IEP with the community will be clear from there.
Personally, I have nothing against any of the IEP, IP people. We do communicate with each other and have cordial relationship that exists between any wikipedia volunteers.
This is another branding going on to side line wikipedia editors. Remember once a person start editing in Wikipedia they are wikipedians. But here we are branding and sidelining them to prove our POV.
I am not proving any POV. Just commenting on some facts that are put up on record in the reports.
I have seen members (both in this list and in other lists) using the words outsiders, non-xyz language speakers, non-xyz city people to sideline few community members (especially if they are newcomers). See now I am side lined as an ex-volunteer so that the interested parties can prove their POV.
I know some people who are on some Indic Wikipedia and take other Wikipedia activities -especially English - as competition !! It is very difficult to tackle them in a situation where various volunteers come together and ask for support in terms of resources.
For me that is not an issue since my wiki contributions are not depending on these branding and I will continue my volunteer contribution. The community atmosphere in Indic wikis is entirely different especially when it comes towards treatment towards new users.
Nobody is challenging your or any other volunteers contribution. All of them will continue contributing in whatever capacity they can. However, the discussions are raised when the paid staff role comes into picture. That's what is going on in this mail thread.
But when new members joining wiki if they are branded and sidelined how will community grow for any language. From my experience with Malayalam wikipedia, I must say Indic wiki communities perform better in this aspect. When a user start editing in wiki, we must value their wiki contributions, not by their association or non-association with any organization/groups/individuals.
The community grows even if it is branded by the language. eg. From the WCI till date, some 400+ editors are added in Marathi Wikipedia. Thats because of the efforts done by "volunteers" in/around Pune,Mumbai and the support from Media. Also not forgetting support from chapter and IP as well. To groom them to become good and consistent editors is a challenge and hopefully that will be achieved in due course of time.
Regards -Sudhanwa
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~! web: www.sudhanwa.com blog: www.sudhanwa.in Twitter: sudhanwa Check on FB, Linkedin for more.