steve vertigo wrote:
Theres a fundamental rule in journalism That youre
missing Tarq -- (and Wikipedians ARE journalists -- in
the best sense, perhaps) The rule is:
"Get Something On the Page -- Period."
Imagine a big burly fat guy with a cigar yelling that
in your ear as your typing it up against your
deadline.
Now imagine you hand him this:
"Wikipedia is project encyclopedia working together. It is available many
languages and is permitted with the GNU Free Manual Permission."
And so on.
Burly Fat Guy: "You're fired, Vertigo!"
It's far better to "get something on the page" by:
1. writing your own article (even if it's just a stub)
2. doing the translation yourself
Im not saying that I can go around
recommending machtransware as a cure for cancer -- I
am saying it is fast arriving -- and can be useful to
some people -- those talented at turning crap into
custard. If one is not so talented -- and does not
wish to be bothered with using it -- this should not
translate into them being bothered that its by others
being used. Is regular and assisted use can solve the
issue of perhaps seeding a modest degree of interest
in some of the other WP's -- which remain as they are,
stillborn. Translate that.
If one is so talented, why couldn't he or she could use machine
translation as an translation aid individually, without putting the
unaltered results into Wikipedia? Given where the technology is at this
point, this seems to be the prudent choice.
Stephen G.