[Foundation-l] Future fate of Siberian Wikipedia

[Jussi-Ville Heiskanen]

On 8/1/07, Johannes Rohr <jorohr at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> while I understand that nobody is keen to get dragged into the
> controversy over the "Siberian" Wikipedia[1] I still feel that some
> sort of a solution should be envisaged, even if currently there is no
> such body as a meta arbitration committee, that would have the formal
> authority to handle this case.
>
> The Siberian Wikipedia is composed in a non-notable constructed
> language, which has absolutely no recognition by any relevant
> authority. It is loosely based on historical contemporary Russian
> dialects of Northern Russia and Siberia. Much of its content is
> non-encyclopaedic, some has been considered highly offensive by many
> Russians.
>

Without making any deeper judgement on the language in question,
much less the content; I think you have seriously misunderstood
the meaning of the word "constructed language".

A _constructed language_ is one that is created without any
historical precedent at all of people speaking anything remotely
like it.

On this basis I don't think you can be talking about a constructed language
as such, even though I make no judgement on whether the language/dialect
 - what have you - is notable enough to merit any presence on wikimedia.

> Notable cases, where action has been taken with regard to
> non-encyclopaedic Wikipedias in conlangs or Wikipedias in non-notable
> conlangs include the Klingon (thl) and Toki Pona (tokipona)
> editions. Both have been eventually relocated to wikia, where their
> authors have every freedom and opportunity to continue their projects
> as they see fit.

I am not saying the same solution is a wrong solution, but I *do*
think you are comparing apples and oranges.


> Unless there are double-standards, the same solution should be applied
> to the ru-sib Wikipedia.

There may or may not be double standards, but circumstances certainly
alter cases, and whatever might be fair in the particular case you are
discussing, pretty certainly it will not hinge on a comparison to klingon or
toki pona.

> Looking forward to your comments and opinions (if you have any),


--
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen, ~ [[User:Cimon Avaro]]