[Foundation-l] Mediawiki and a standard template library

[Martijn Hoekstra]

On wikimedia projects that are not Wikipedia (Wikia in specific comes
to mind) I often find myself using templates that have not been
defined on that installation. The English Wikipedia (which I am most
familiar with) has many very usefull templates, especially the
{{citeFoo}} templates, but numerous others as well. Trying to 'import'
one is a bit of a pain though. Many templates depend on other
templates, and it is not often very clear how (as a fun exercise for
the reader, try to import the {{convert}} template to a new wiki, and
see how easy it is!). I was wondering if it might be a good idea to
include a standard template library to Wikimedia installations,
containing a set of utility templates along with the Wikimedia
distribution. I'm cross-posting foudation, for possible discussion if
this is desirable, and wikitech, for possible discussion if this is
feasable.