On Fri, 03 Dec 2004 08:48:43 +1100, Tim Starling t.starling@physics.unimelb.edu.au wrote:
[snip]
It's not that much of a strain. I actually added this to the language list as soon as I saw the post, thinking that since it has an ISO 639-2 code, it would be uncontroversial. But then I remembered this:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy_for_wikis_in_new_languages
The OP hasn't met the conditions outlined on that page. So I removed it from the language list pending discussion.
I can appreciate the reasoning behind the requirement that there need be at least 5 persons pledged to contribute to the wiki.
However, I suspect that this number was chosen at least partly to serve as an obstacle for very obscure or extinct languages to overcome before being supported. To me this is reasonable: we should not waste resources on a Hittite wikipedia if only a couple individuals want it.
But I think the policy ought to take into account (which is does not now) the size of the current speaking population in making these choices. So I think that, whatever the minimum number of pledged users needs to be, that it should be lower for languages like Tumbuka than for, say, Hittite, because the greater size of the existing speaking population implies a greater payoff for Wikipedia in supporting the language.
Steve