It seems to be that there is a heated debate on whether to keep zh as
one or split. Being from Hong Kong, which uses traditional, and having
the large majority of my Chinese education in Simplified (plus the fact
that I now reside in Canada, which does not use Chinese as an official
language), I'd say that I'd prefer a conversion script/program over
keeping things separate, due to the difficulties in even keeping the
information in two different Wikipedias synchronized.
Has anyone dealt with the article titles? Obviously, if an SC version
redirects to a TC version or vice-versa, given the NPOV policy on
Wikipedia and the political overtones, the article title may be showing
POV (or is it the intention that the conversion script also covers the
article title?).
Having said that, has anyone also discussed this issue with regards
to...
Wiktionary - SC/TC differences are generally that much more of a
problem with a dictionary than an encyclopedia (not to mention if
ci2dian, ci3dian, or zidian is the correct words to use). For example,
a predominantly SC dictionary has the SC character, followed by the
traditional equivalent in brackets, while a TC dictionary has the SC
character in brackets (whether to bracket a character is another story
- TC dictionaries bracket everything, while SC dictionaries only
bracket if their TC version is not readily apparent). Would a
conversion script deal with this? What about codes that are dependant
on how the character is written (such as four-corner or Q-9)? In those
indices, characters in one type but not another is bracketed if they do
not belong to the inherent type of dictionary. I doubt that a
conversion script would bother to make the necessary changes to make it
look aesthetically pleasing (not to mention that it would be stupid for
a TC user to be denied access to an SC dictionary).
Articles about Chinese stuff in a non-Chinese Wiki - Do we need this
automatic conversion process in a non-Chinese Wiki? For example, does
en.wikt need this conversion process for its entries on Chinese
characters, phrases, and sayings?
Regional differences with regards to SC and TC - Consider "luo-bo"
(carrot). On the mainland, the second character is valid SC and TC.
In Hong Kong, it's valid SC, but not valid TC (as it has another form).
Other characters may be treated similarly: in one region a character
is both SC and TC, but in another, it could be SC only or TC only. An
automatic conversion script would, IMO, be really picky about what is
SC and what is TC.