On 6/28/05, Wouter Steenbeek musiqolog@hotmail.com wrote:
Imo, a test wiki is desirable, but should not be obligatory for the creation of a new Wikipedia. And while a test wiki in a language that has no request yet should not be deleted at once, I think someone willing to create a new Wikipedia should always request it properly, so if he/she makes a test wiki he should put a request on the page immediately. Finally, it seems to me nothing but logical that test wikis are removed when the real wikipedia has been created. The moderators should bother to transfer the articles.
I agree with Wouter. In addition, I think there should be some sort of policy on what is allowed a test wiki. It shouldn't be a place for wikis to start up in languages that have been completely rejected by the community. For example, if there's no consensus on Sindarin, it shouldn't be able to get around that decision by setting up on Meta. The test wiki area needs to be strictly for wikis which do have a real possibility of becoming Wikipedia languages. It also needs to be made clear that the test area is only for new languages, not for new wiki ideas, or we'll end up with content like http://scratchpad.wikicities.com/wiki/Bevelheads:Home and the other pages at Scratchpad all over Meta, which I don't think would be useful or appropriate.
Angela.