From: Mark Williamson node.ue@gmail.com
Hi all,
I would like to ask for some clarification of Wikimedia policy.
Is it considered acceptable to have spearate Wikipedias for different cultures and peoples rather than languages? Are any existing Wikipedias considered in this capacity?
Robin Patterson has asserted on mi: that rather than a Wikipedia in the Maori language, it's intended as a Wikipedia for the Maori people, and thus extensive usage of the English language is OK or even good, since only 5% of Maori people are fluent in Maori.
We have had thios talk before. I would discourage it. First of all: Wikipedia is intended to write from a neutral point of view, affected as little as possible by cultural matters. Second: allowing other content than language x just because the indigenous are no longer able to speak it fluently will weaken the position of the language in question. For many languages, Wikipedia is the first encyclopaedia ever created, so the boost they might get from this wonderful project my in no way be undone. Third: the view of what is a language may be deeply influenced by political matters, but is still much, much better to be mde out than the view of what makes one culture different from another. Forth: if e.g. the Maori wikipedia becomes for Maoris rather than in Maori, the Maori languge content will become unintelligible for the majority of the new target group. And finally: we should have to close a lot of existing Wikipedias because their cultures are too similar and duplicate efforts on the other hand by splitting the English, French and Spanish Wikipedias. So let's maintain the current situation.
Wouter
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