[Foundation-l] Re: [Wikipedia-l] Status of Wikimedia

[SJ]

On Mon, 7 Nov 2005, Jimmy Wales wrote:

>> Tell me when you've stopped discussing and voting on genial new projects
>> and obscure dialects, when you've kicked the language fanatics from the
>> mailing lists, when you've closed the unwatched spam traps, when you've
>> settled on a checkuser and logo policy, when someone has had the guts to
>> introduce single login instead of just talking about it and when you are
>> serious about this human knowledge thing.
>
> I'm very sympathetic to all these points.  I don't have an easy answer
> to what to do, and kicking language fanatics off the mailing lists isn't
> exactly our normal style.  I do think we need some serious reform of our
> language policy to end what I see as an ongoing drive to reclassify
> every dialect in the world into a standalone language.
<
> Each person's list of things like this will be slightly different, but
> the overall point is that I am beginning to sense a need with the
> community for us to turn inward, to change some of our very open
> policies which lead people to endless new-project proposals and
> new-language speculation.

The current policies strike me as more undefined than open.

It is not easy to start new projects, certainly not those with their own 
domains; it's not even easy to figure out where and how within the English 
Wikipedia to nurture an English-language, encyclopedia-focused project.

It is much easier (perhaps too easy, considering how many wikis have zero 
active users) to start new languages.  However it is surprisingly hard to 
find a list of [other] ways to integrate new language/dialect content into 
the projects*.

The current bar for starting new domains/languages is low; but the 
alternative isn't necessarily to turn people away or kick them out of 
discussions; we can at least start by providing enthusiastic (fanatic?) 
proposers with better information, clearer guidelines, and one or two 
wikis that focus on incubation.

One of the prime advantages of both free licensing and wikis is that they 
allow people to act on impulses, contributing two hours of content while 
they are passionate about something, before it fades from mind, rather 
than waiting for days or weeks for others to grant permission.  I hope 
we find ways to encourage this -- perhaps by more clearly distinguishing 
alpha/beta/reviewed content/projects/languages** -- while also improving 
quality and consistency at the highest and most public levels.

-- SJ

* e.g., "Just a minor dialect?  use this auto-conversion patch to let 
users choose which dialect they see.  A language with little written 
content, few speakers, or controversial status?  Here's a collection of 
Swadesh lists; starty by adding yours to it...  Here's an incubator wiki 
where you can develop other content in that language... Here's how you can 
set up your own wiki and raise the issue again once you have 500 articles. 
A language with millions of literate speakers but no wiki community? 
Here's where to develop that content at first, where to announce it, and 
the milestones you need to reach before getting your own domain."

** even users.  cf. last week's discussion of anonymity.