Anthere wrote:
--- Zoe zoecomnena@yahoo.com wrote:
The English wikipedia is designed for people for whom English is the native language, by and large.
I hope not.
It's for all people who comprehend English well enough that they think they'll get something useful out of an English-language encyclopedia. Note that:
a) a large portion of those people will be native English speakers, living in a country where English is the common language, or working in a field where high English competency is demanded
b) whatever their origin and language competency, anyone looking up stuff in one English-language resource is likely to look stuff up in other English-language resources too, and/or use/discuss their new knowledge in an English-language context. Using the language as she is spoke instead of making up conventions ex nihilo ensures that we are "compatible". To present rarely used terms as if they were standard and standard terms as if they were errors would be a great disservice to our readers.
-- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)