[Foundation-l] Allow new wikis in extinct languages?

[Marcus Buck]

Ziko van Dijk hett schreven:
> Maybe we should drop the "computer-world-based" criteria like the ISO-code
> and introduce more "real-life" criteria when accepting a new language ("new"
> even if ancient):
> *The language is taught at a university
> *There is a journal or newspaper in or about that language
> *20 or more speakers or scholars (with a certificate or some prove that they
> can at least write in that language) endorse the project
I read much about "notable literature", "taught at university level", 
"scholars" and all this in the posts here on the list (I don't address 
only you, Ziko van Dijk, I only quoted you, cause you name a whole row 
of that points). Please keep in mind, that the mission of the Wikimedia 
Foundation is to bring knowledge to the people. Knowledge which was 
previously not available to them (if it would have been available, 
Wikipedia and the other projects would have been pointless). Not 
available cause companies/publishers wanted to/had to make money with it 
and they couldn't afford it. Or not available cause they spoke the wrong 
language or their society not being wealthy enough, so that no publisher 
even tried to publish works providing this knowledge. Wikimedia wants to 
include them, give them the opportunity to aquire knowledge.
Wikimedia wants to give. Without requiring. In the past it was like: 
"You want to aquire knowledge? Well, then learn 
English/German/Russian/French/Chinese/Spanish/Portuguese/whatever may be 
the dominant language in your country!"
Wikimedia aims to overcome this barrier. "You want to aquire knowledge? 
Here's the material, start right away!" Without forcing the people to 
first spend a year on learning how to read the material.

This should be done for every language. Regardless of whether there 
already is scholarly work in the language. If _we_ aim at providing 
knowledge to them, why should we demand existing "knowledge providers" 
like universities or newspapers? "You want to aquire knowledge? Okay, 
please furnish proof that you have enough knowledge first!"

Ten enthusiasts in a language cannot build a university. They perhaps 
can write a newspaper or a batch of novels, fiction and textbooks, but 
if their language's society is poor, who will buy the newspaper, who 
will buy their textbooks and novels? But ten enthusiasts can create a 
good start in a Wikipedia and provide knowledge to the whole language 
community. Wikipedia is the easiest, the most efficient way to start the 
business of providing knowledge. There are many languages with no 
knowledge providers at all, but who have a language community large 
enough to be able to form an own Ausbausprache.Don't put obstacles in 
their way.

Marcus Buck