[Foundation-l] Fwd: [Wikitech-l] second-class wikis

[Gerard Meijssen]

Hoi,
There are language issues that are not addressed. It is known for instance
that the Safari browser supports Lingala better then Firefox and Opera. This
is because Safari does NOT use a monospaced font in the edit screen. An
obvious but not so elegant solution would be to have these other two
browsers also not have monospaced fonts used. The problem is that an elegant
solution is outside of MediaWIki... There are more issues like this and they
need to be given a WMF priority to fix this. There are several other issues
that can be addressed when language itself is given priority.

When you state that language-dependence in the priorities, you are exactly
right. The trouble is that the "other" languages do not function properly
and this is not really considered. For English things work per default. So
if all other languages are considered as equal, you neglect the fact that
this is not true for other languages. If the search engine is broken in the
first place then it is not acceptable to use it if you state that all
languages are treated equally. Leaving them "for now" is a temporary
solution. There is however nothing as permanent as a temporary solution.

As to the Tool Server replication, I have written that this is just bad
luck. Indeed it could be the one for English. In a way, the Tool Server is
quicky, it is good that it is not as bad as the backup situation.

I will be indeed the last to say that the Betawiki developers are not part
of the community of MediaWiki developers. The point that I tried to make
here is that when the Lingala community produces its *own *developer, they
will have a better grasp of the issues with the Lingala language. There are
no  Betawiki developers who know about the needs of African languages. I
know I can find such developers through people like Don Osborne and Martin
Benjamin. They are programmers that are for hire. If we want a more complete
solution, language needs to be given a priority and the many issues need to
be identified first and addressed later. It is not only about Lingala.
Thanks,
      GerardM



2009/2/3 Tim Starling <tstarling at wikimedia.org>

> Gerard Meijssen wrote:
> > Hoi,
> > A conspiracy is wilful. I doubt that this is the case. If anything there
> is
> > neglect. Other languages are just not given the same priority.
>
> There's no language-dependence in our priorities here, except for Robert's
> initial decision, back in October, to pilot the new software on the
> largest wikis. The smaller wikis haven't been neglected since then,
> rather, the search engine has been neglected.
>
> The English Wikipedia has often been left out of toolserver replication,
> and it could have easily been the case this time around.
>
> > What you hope
> > for is that over time a language community will include developers that
> will
> > take care for its language issues. In the mean time the Betawiki
> developers
> > do what they can and I think they do a pretty good job.
>
> The Betawiki developers, as I believe you yourself have pointed out, are
> part of the community.
>
> -- Tim Starling
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-l mailing list
> foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>