[Foundation-l] Fwd: Pt-Portuguese Wikipedia

Virgilio A. P. Machado vam at fct.unl.pt
Tue Mar 23 22:51:29 UTC 2010


I absolutely agree. My "characterization of 
possible motivations is frankly beyond the pale." 
In fact it is a very rosy characterization. There 
is proof buried in this mailing list and in my 
mailboxes of utter indifference, if not outright 
contempt for the problems of a Wikipedia in a 
"foreign" language, from the subscribers of this 
list all the way up to the highest levels of 
responsibility at the Wikimedia Foundation. A 
simple way to state it might be: you guys have a 
problem, you sort it out or don't bother us, and 
we won't bother you. A lot of people will pay lip 
service to the common good, but will not even 
budge when they have a chance to do something 
about it. Never underestimate the results of some 
gentle persuasion, specially coming from those 
who hold the keys to all the hardware that's 
being used as a playground by a few.

Please understand that a lot of people - really a 
lot of very powerful people - don't give a hoot 
about the Portuguese Wikipedia or any of its 
problems, and since I have proof and I haven't 
seen proof to the contrary anywhere, I rest my case.

As for a believable plan of action at the risk of repeating myself:

«Perhaps the question is not the creation of a 
new version of Wikipedia, but to make the 
Portuguese Wikipedia appealing to all readers and 
writers (editors) of the Portuguese language. 
There might be solutions and proposals to address 
this problem which have been kept from seeing the 
light of day, for untold reasons.

It might be worthwhile to open a page where the 
discussion could be centralized. It would be nice 
if the page could be bilingual, with one section 
in English, to open the discussion to the wider 
Wikimedia community, and another in Portuguese, 
for those who lack enough command of the English 
language to participate in the broader discussion.

If anyone would be so kind as to suggest what 
that page might be and where it could be created, 
I would be more than happy to participate.»

All I have asked for is the suggestion of a page. 
You can't find a single word about that request 
in all that has been written. Not even: what if 
that page is created and nobody contributes? That 
is a possibility. There's also the possibility 
that whatever conclusion is reached it will not 
be implemented by those who hold the power in the 
Portuguese Wikipedia or the keys in the Wikimedia 
Foundation. There's also the possibility that if 
someone had several million dollars to spare, any 
solution that would please that person would be 
implemented. So you see, most things can be had 
for a price, and all I have asked was the 
suggestion of a page. I wonder what it takes to have that.

Sincerely,

Virgilio A. P. Machado


At 17:14 23-03-2010, you wrote:
>Virgilio A. P. Machado wrote:
>
> >
> > I understand that the topic started with a suggestion to create "a
> > new version of Wikipedia in Portuguese from Portugal", but I can't
> > fail to notice that, for the wider Wikimedia community, avoiding to
> > address any of problems of the Portuguese Wikipedia, might be very
> > convenient to keep it where it is, mired in problems. We all have
> > problems of our own, right? Why bother?
> >
>
>
>While it may be true that not all contributors in this
>thread have written with perfect comprehension of
>the specific situation, I do think the above characterization
>of possible motivations is frankly beyond the pale.
>
>Please understand that nobody -- really nobody -- wishes
>for Portuguese Wikipedia to remain mired in problems.
>
>Personally I do believe that notwithstanding that, the
>best experts on how to heal the rifts within the Portuguese
>Wikipedia might not come from the outside. That is my
>personal view, lacking a believable plan of action for how
>the foundation or some other external part of the larger
>community could effect a healing action on the Portuguese
>community.
>
>
>Yours,
>
>Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
>
>
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>foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
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Prof. Virgilio A. P. Machado            vam at fct.unl.pt
Engenharia 
Industrial 
http://web.archive.org/web/20070824105539/www.ipei.pt/GDEI/
DEMI/FCT/UNL                    Fax:   351-21-294-8546 or 21-294-8531
Universidade de Portugal                or 351-21-295-4461
2829-516 Caparica                       Tel.:  351-21-294-8542 or 21-294-8567
PORTUGAL                                or 351-21-294-8300 or 21 294-8500
                                         Ext.112-32
96-577-3726
Faculdade de Ciencias e Tecnologia/UNL (FCT/UNL)

(Dr. Machado is Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering at the
School of Sciences and Engineering/UNL of the University of Portugal)  


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