[Foundation-l] Language Prevention Committee created

[Jesse Martin (Pathoschild)]

(This message contains my personal opinions, not those of the subcommittee.)

Hello,

The policy is not at fault for the delays. A slightly different
version was ready four months ago; the unfortunate problem is that the
subcommittee is ill-suited for policy development, which is best
accomplished by a proactive editor with changes by others through the
wiki process. The subcommittee is much better suited to actually
processing requests, but we still have to get the policy development
out of the way first.

I've said this so many times I'm starting to doubt whether it's
possible, but it should not take much longer. Assuming nobody suddenly
notices another all-important problem and forces a full halt, we
should begin processing requests within a week or two.

Although the current delays are unacceptable, please be careful not to
mistakenly hearken back to the good old days before the subcommittee;
it was common for a request to take over a year, be approved and
archived, and forgotten (without being created) forever more until a
subcommittee came along and replaced the old process. For example, see
<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Requests_for_new_languages/Wikipedia_Cook_Islands_Maori>,
proposed in July 2005 and still open as of December 2006, when the
subcommittee closed it along with other old requests.

Feedback on the policy would be much appreciated. Is there anything in
particular you oppose or dislike?

Yours cordially,
Jesse Martin (Pathoschild)

> From: "Mark Williamson" <node.ue at gmail.com>
> But for new languages, I do not think it is a good idea anymore to
> have a committee. I supported the idea in the beginning, but I have
> seen NO REAL ACTION and 0 agreement between members. No new Wikipedias
> have been formed since the creation of this committee, while certain
> test Wikis are bursting at their seams!!! (Kabyle, Latgalian, Lower
> Sorbian, Crimean Tatar, Saterfrisian).
>
> The Incubator Wiki was not made to hold such large projects. It was
> made to hold proto-projects, not a web of standalone projects (like
> Wikia).
>
> Also, I am strongly against the "new proposal policy" by Pathoschild.
>
> While I do see a problem with a voting system, I ALSO see a problem
> with a system where it takes ten thousand years for a Wiki to get
> approved!!!
>