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

[Gerard Meijssen]

Neil Harris schreef:
> Birgitte SB wrote:
>   
>> en.WP is not the primary Wikipedia for many wikimedia
>> editors.  These usernames *are* in the primary
>> character set of the users home wiki.  I think it is
>> perfectly reasonable to expect to not be blocked just
>> because Wikimedia adopts SUL.  Bascially what this
>> boils down to is someone who today edits as an IP
>> without harrassment will be blocked after SUL as soon
>> as an en.WP admin spots them on RC.  This will happen
>> without the editor doing anything differently on their
>> end.  
>>
>> There is strong support for SUL throughout all
>> communtities, but I cannot support going live with it
>> if large chunks of the wikimedia community will be
>> locally blocked without warning on any particular
>> wiki.  If en.WP does not wish to adjust thier policies
>> to this mew development perhaps en.WP can be left out
>> of SUL.  Is it possible for en.WP to keep their own
>> user database while all other wikis use a shared
>> database?
>>
>> Birgitte SB
>>
>>   
>>     
>
> Absolutely.
>
> Different-script blocking on en: must therefore stop as soon as SUL is 
> implemented.
>
> But, since human-readable usernames are essential to managing the wiki 
> system, and for many people names not in their native script are not 
> human-readable, there must necessarily be some sort of solution to the 
> name-incomprehensibility problem before SUL goes live.
>
> The truename + nickname idea looks to me like the favourite at the 
> moment. I definitely support it, with the provisos that:
>
> * truenames _and_ nicknames need to be made globally unique within the 
> single SUL namespace, otherwise they will present new opportunities for 
> misdirection (eg. nick of one user is the same as the truename of 
> another and vice versa, or that on another different-script wiki...)
> * that each truename or nickname have characters only from a single 
> script system (although they will of course in general have different 
> script systems from one another, because that's the whole point)
> * that the anti-spoofing code be used to filter both (which may need 
> some overdue improvements in the anti-spoofing algorithm to be put in 
> place, which I've got on the back burner already anyway)
>
> I would also suggest, at the risk of further controversy, that having an 
> appropriate nick be made compulsory if you intend to use your account to 
> edit in a wiki with a default script different from that of your username.
>
> Perhaps we could put in place some sort of human-driven wiki-based 
> please-translate-my-name-into-your-script service for this, or simply 
> generate a (also globally unique) machine-generated ID until users 
> create an appropriate nick, with regular nag messages to remind them to 
> do so?
>
> -- Neil
Hoi,
You cannot have the cake and eat it too. All languages and scripts that 
we have are human readable. The notion that they are not is brain dead. 
The idea that nicks have to be unique too will be next to impossible to 
implement. Again, when a user is created in a Latin script, and he does 
"evil" things, you will have to check the talk page / history to find in 
what way you want to impose sanctions. This is no different from people 
with a user in another script.

Again, I think that the suggestion of forcing to have people change 
their name is the wrong way to go. I am dead against it. It is 
discrimination pure and simple.

Thanks,
    GerardM