[Foundation-l] Re: Intent to launch pt., pl., ro. Wikinews; further procedure

[Erik Moeller]

Anthere-

>
> * activity shows interest, so avoid missed launches such as the french 
> wikinews one

Actually, it doesn't. French Wikinews would have passed the edit count 
requirements (haven't checked user duration); as you yourself said, 
Greudin is a very active user on fr.wikipedia and has pledged support 
for the French Wikinews, yet he has only made a handful of edits there.

Translating/creating policies seems to be a much better test of actual 
interest in doing work. Once you do that, that shows a commitment to the 
project.

>
> * past activity of at least 2 editors on a wikipedia (for example) 
> indicates that at least 2 editors are aware of our basic principles 
> and in particular NPOV requirement.

What better test could there be for people understanding a policy like 
NPOV than requiring them to translate it?

> Again, the is a security measure. If 5 people, not even one oldby on 
> one of our project, decide to  launch a wikinews with no experience at 
> all, there is rather high risk that some of our principles are not 
> respected; 

I don't see it that way. Just because someone has been on Wikipedia for 
months doesn't mean that they respect policies at all. Quantity is not 
quality, and measuring quality is almost impossible while keeping the 
process scalable and fair. One could even argue that malicious trolls or 
otherwise harmful users who know how to manipulate policies in their 
interest are more likely to come from our existing user base. In fact, 
Wikinews will especially attract people who are fed up with Wikipedia 
and want to work on another wiki.

> and since it is not in a language we necessarily manage, it might go 
> on for a long time.

This is more likely if key policies like NPOV are *not* translated. If 
we can agree on which parts of our policies are not negotiable, we can 
make sure that they are in place. One of these policies can even include 
instructions on what to do if your wiki doesn't follow the Wikimedia 
spirit (contact stewards etc.).

Future projects don't necessarily match our current userbase. To tie the 
process for creating new language editions directly to that userbase 
seems needlessly restrictive. Building a small community on Meta and 
writing key pages before launching the project is also simply good 
planning -- exactly the kind of thing that could have helped to prevent 
the current fr.wikinews.org situation, much more so than algorithmic 
requirements whose actual predictive value is very low, as that 
experience has shown.

Regards,

Erik