[Foundation-l] English Wikipedia ethnocentric policy affects other communities

[Gerard Meijssen]

Neil Harris schreef:
> Gerard Meijssen wrote:
>   
>> Neil Harris schreef:
>>   
>>     
>>> Stephen Bain wrote:
>>>   
>>>     
>>>       
>>>> On 12/20/06, Jon Harald Søby <jhsoby at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>   
>>>>     
>>>>       
>>>>         
>>>>> I can understand the rationale for this policy, but it _is_
>>>>> ethnocentric, and it counters the problem from the wrong side, if you
>>>>> know what I mean. Instead of trying to fix the problem, they try to
>>>>> remove it.
>>>>>     
>>>>>       
>>>>>         
>>>>>           
>>>> I think it's horribly rude for the other admins on en: to be blocking
>>>> people for using non-Latin characters in their username. A more polite
>>>> approach would be to ask them to add a transliteration to their
>>>> signature, that would satisfy many people.
>>>>
>>>> The problem is fairly simple, people who speak only English don't
>>>> bother installing language support on their computers, even though
>>>> (AFAIK) it is included with all operating systems these days. All they
>>>> need to do is get their installation CD out and turn it on.
>>>>
>>>>   
>>>>     
>>>>       
>>>>         
>>> The major problem is that, to most Latin-script-only contributors cannot 
>>> accurately memorize or distinguish many non-Latin names. For example, 
>>> the average Western user cannot clearly visualize -- or communicate to 
>>> others -- the differences between (chosen at random) 漢, 源, and 装, all 
>>> of which look remarkably similar to them, even though they are 
>>> immediately and obviously distinguishable by any Chinese reader.
>>>
>>> Since Wikipedia needs names to be human-recognizable in order to 
>>> function, this needs fixing, and since it is impractical to educate all 
>>> Wikipedia contributors to literacy in all major world script systems, 
>>> transliteration -- or some other disambiguation system -- will be 
>>> necessary in order to make names distinct to human readers who are 
>>> unfamiliar with other writing systems.
>>>
>>> Possibility 1:
>>>
>>> For example, a user with the Japanese name 武 could add a Latin-script 
>>> transliteration ("Takeshi"), and appear on Latin-script wikis as
>>>
>>> [[User:武 (Takeshi)]]
>>>
>>> or possibly:
>>>
>>> [[User:Takeshi (武)]]
>>>
>>> Of course, to avoid any appearance of linguistic imperialism, the same 
>>> facility should be available for users with Latin-script names to add 
>>> transliterations in other scripts.
>>>
>>> Possibility 2:
>>>
>>> All usernames could have their internal Wikipedia IDs appended, perhaps 
>>> in the form of hex numbers, allowing them to be uniquely identified, 
>>> regardless of the culture of the readers, providing only that they can 
>>> read hex digits. For example:
>>>
>>> 武 (x610d49)
>>>
>>> Ideally, a unique fixed-length hash of the internal ID number would be 
>>> used, to avoid the emergence of a "pecking order" based on one user 
>>> having an earlier-issued ID number than another.
>>>
>>> -- Neil
>>>     
>>>       
>> Hoi,
>> Given how you phrase things you assume that all wikipedia users can read 
>> the Latin script. That is incorrect. When you assume that the English 
>> language Wikipedia can set the policies in this, I would hate it when 
>> the non Latin language Wikipedias by retaliating and expect the 
>> transliteration of the users. This is a wrong route. Do not go this way.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>       *ゲラルド・メイセン*
>>   
>>     
>
> Gerard,
>
> The problem does indeed occur symmetrically, and while I phrased my 
> reply in terms of making non-Latin names unambiguous on 
> native-Latin-script Wikipedia editions, you might want to re-read my 
> comment, and notice the bit that said:
>
>   
>> Of course, to avoid any appearance of linguistic imperialism, the same 
>> facility should be available for users with Latin-script names to add 
>> transliterations in other scripts.
>>     
>
> -- Neil
I can only say that I disagree.
Thanks,

      *ゲラルド・メイセン*