[Foundation-l] Re: Ogg Vorbis versus Chinese Wikinews

[Dovi Jacobs]

"However, you also argue that till now, many chinese have asked for the wikinews and that we are denying them a useful project. So... you fall back on an argument based on user request...""This is a tricky issue. Either we consider it fully a fundamental policy and the fact part of users support and part of users oppose the creation should NOT be taken into account... or we decide it is important, but require clearer community support. Not so easy to all agree on what should be done :-)"

Thanks for your reply, Anthere! (That was fast, I was just about to go offline.)

As far as I understand, normally when there is enough interest in a language version of Wikinews, the language is launched.

That is normal policy, so I have not fallen back on "community" in my argument.

Rather, the point is that *not* to act on normal policy here conflicts with a fundamental policy of freedom.

What you hint at is a slightly different issue, one which makes the *discussion* a bit more "tricky" as you say, but not the gut issue.

Namely: What if there is "opposition" to a new language wiki? Should there be a way not just to express interest in building one, but also to vote against one? Intuitively, the answer is "no", because anyone who doesn't want to work on that project in that language simply doesn't have to!

I understand that this latter question caused problems for the French Wikinews, though I don't know the details.

However, whatever happened with French Wikinews is connected only to the secondary policy question, namely, should the policy for creating new languages, when the languages are legitimate Wikimedia languages, also allow for opposition? Though I think in normal circumstances probably not, this is completely unconnected to Chinese Wikinews!

My point is to completely disengage the two issues: Whether or not "opposition" should be allowed to creating a new language in a project is one question, and it is a completely legitimate question (though I personally think the answer should be "no" in normal circumstances).

But when such "opposition" is based on the threat or fear of censorship - there cannot even be a question at all. Censorship is not a valid reason to oppose a Wikimedia project, if the project stands for free speech.


		
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
 Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more.