Ray-
Tyranny relates to the imposition of the tyrant's
will on the activities
of others. As long as the pro-Klingon minority does not require that
others participate in Klingon activities they are not being tyrannous.
Wikimedia is not a set of isolated projects. Once the Klingon Wikipedia
exists, people will add interlanguage links to it on *all* 50+ Wikipedias.
Articles like [[Holocaust]] or [[Abu Ghraib]] will have links to Klingon
translations, with the associated risk of causing offense to unsuspecting
readers. Klingon will be part of our press releases. It will show up in
the language directory on our Main Pages. There will inevitably be Klingon
editions of Wikibooks, Wiktionary, Wikinews, Wikiquote, and any other
Wikimedia project. This is a significant use of our resources and has a
significant potential to negatively affect our reputation.
Furthermore, if we allow Klingon to be created in this way - without
consensus, clear rules or a vote - Elvish, "Modern Egyptian" and other
nonsense languages will follow, all with the exact same associated
effects. Everyone working on Wikimedia is affected once we open the
floodgates. The isolation which you suggest does not exist.
The risk to our reputation is increased by the fact that many people
*know* what the Klingon language is. With something like Toki Pona,
although I oppose it, that risk is diminished. And all that for what? So
that some Star Trek fans can have a wiki of their own? If that is the
goal, I see no reason why we should offer our resources for that purpose.
A wiki is cheap.
I *am* an avid Star Trek fan. I have two seasons of TNG on DVD. I watch
Enterprise even though it is painful to see 9/11 transformed into a space
opera. I co-founded one of the largest German Star Trek role playing games
(
sfg.org). I provide hosting services to the Memory Alpha Star Trek wiki.
Although I must admit that I am biased against Klingons because they're a
race of brutal morons who would never be able to build a spaceship in the
real world, I assure you that I would be equally opposed to a Vulcan or
Elvish Wikipedia.
I do, however, recognize that there's a difference between the goal of
creating a *useful*, multilingual encyclopedia and the goal of personal
entertainment. I find it regrettable that many people seem to be unable to
make that distinction. This notwithstanding, I have offered compromise
solutions and a vote. It seems quite clear to me who in this debate is
acting tyrannically.
Regards,
Erik