1. That is to
say nothing of Alaya
Because he/she does not even have a user page! Go check on meta, en,
zh, and you can find none!
Nishishei has a userpage on en:, gives his e-mail, has a respected
website on Shanghainese, and is a university student.
2. If we
subjected all new Wikipedias to such standards, we would
probably only have 20 Wikipedias
Well, Shanghainese is different from Ning-bo dialect (My grandma
speaks that, and believe me, sometimes I cannot comprehend her
slangs), Hangzhou dialect (I have been to Hangzhou many times, and
again I can catch only a few phrases), Suzhou dialect, Subei dialect
(many old men in Shanghai were from Subei, and they can be easily
identified once they open their mouths). That makes four varieties of
Wu already, and there will be more. Considering all other dialects and
their varieties, you can have hundreds of Wikipedias already. Enjoy
surfing!
We are talking about a Wu Wikipedia, not a Shanghainese Wikipedia.
Granted Shanghainese is different from Suzhou, but they are definitely
mutually intelligible.
And why don't you set up some more Wikipedias for
dialects in other
languages? English, for example, has many varities too. Why not have
an American English Wikipedia, British English Wikipedia, Australian
English Wikipedia. And yes, even in Britain people speak different
English as well. So why don't we have one Wikipedia for everybody,
since we all speak the language differently?
"So differently"? Because these languages, with minimal effort, are
mutually intelligible, we do not need separate Wikipedias, nor has
anybody seriously suggested them.
3. Why are you
so much against these Wikipedias being created if they
are as you say so useless? Could it hurt?
Yes, It will turn Wikipedia into a big joke.
If we create hundreds, as you suggest, yes. If we create 8 or 9 total,
as I suggest (and only when ech is requested), it won't turn it into a
big joke.
Mark