Ray Saintonge wrote:
Jimmy Wales wrote:
rb_wiktionary(a)boult.mailshell.com wrote:
From what little I have learned so far of this
idea, including the
complete
lack of communication with the user community, the idea of
introducing a new
more technical Ultimate Wiktionary sounds like a disaster waiting to
happen.
Well, I think we can avert disaster now that everyone is talking. I did
not personally realize that people weren't fully informed about this --
that's my own fault.
There's no need to blame yourself on this one. Gerard did raise his
idea some time ago, although someone like rb didn't come onto the
scene until later, and was bound to find this more alarming than I.
This doesn't mean that I agree with or even understand all of Gerard's
proposal. It's a fact of life that new technical proposals are
constantly being raised. Our developers know to exercise caution
before giving them the green light, and you should not be put in a
position to approve things before their time. Let's just say that
Gerard's promotional claims have run far ahead of his technical
developments.
Ec
Ray,
There is no need to be alarmed. It is not me who is going to do the
programming. It is not even be only me who will design the files and
their relations. There are several interested parties with awareness of
this subject that want to play a part. There are professionals in the
language industry who like the idea. They are translators, they are
language technicians. Apart from that I do have some awareness of what
computers and relational databases can do. I even have some
qualifications. As to our programmers, it is our chief of research who
is the architect of Wikidata, the underlying engine of what "Ultimate
Wiktionary" will be built on.
Promotional claims, no they are verifiable claims. Understanding what
the technical concepts are and understanding what it can be used is
something that I do claim. I have done the footwork on the Dutch
wiktionary, I have implemented the ideas that make the nl.wiktionary
tick in the fa.wiktionary to see what the issues are in a right to left
language.
As to giving the green light, we are passed that point. There is a green
light. We are programming. Ultimate Wiktionary has moved from an idea to
the implementation phase. This is the time to talk about what a database
scheme should look like. This is not a time to sit back and relax.
Thanks,
GerardM