Ray Saintonge wrote:
Jimmy Wales wrote:
rb_wiktionary@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.
Ray,
Did you already go and have a look at the proposals for yourself? Of course it takes time to implement new ideas. I still think Gerard and co deserve the benefit of the doubt on this one. There is a lot that can be improved to the Wiktionaries in their current form and Gerard is on a good path to improve them. The time frame he proposed was not realistic and maybe he shouldn't have proposed a time frame. He got things moving though and that's an accomplishment in itself. It will cause some disruption and it will be a lot of work to convert the material we have already. I'm sure the community will bear it, once they see the concept is sound. It is not yet possible to see a model of the software in action. It is possible to give input on parts that are glaringly missing at this point though. Take advantage of it.
Anyway, if after all it doesn't work out, the Wiktionaries in their current form are still there. Everybody who wants to will still be able to continue working on them and this will remain possible for quite some time to come. Gerard believes in this project so much, that he foresees everybody abandoning the current way of working and starting on the UW and I believe he is right. It will take a lot of time though. That's not a problem. Time is on our side.
Greetings,
Polyglot