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

[Gregory Maxwell]

On 12/22/06, Bryan Tong Minh <bryan.tongminh at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Please note that you cannot just remove a policy without further
> discussion. Gmaxwell did not revert the change because he disagreed
> with it content, but rather because he felt that you can not change a
> policy without discussion. Unfortunately some people seem to deny
> discussion, because they feel that the only way to change is screaming
> on the list that en is 'ethnocentric' without any contributions to the
> discussion.

Right, I want to see a change. I do not agree that removal is the
right change, but I do not think it is appropriate to make any change
simply as a reaction to a mailing list flamefest..

I think this especially true when many of the participants are not
necessarily active members of the community that the policy has the
greatest influence on.

I agree that we are all members of the entire Wikimedia community, and
that this policy has some influence on the entire community... But the
history of blocked names makes it clear to me that the implications of
this policy change throughout Wikimedia but outside of English
Wikipedia are far less substantial than the impact purely within
English Wikipedia.