[Textbook-l] Simple English Wikibooks Deletion

[Andrew Whitworth]

I'm a little disappointed by the decision myself, but I can't say that
I was surprised by it. I don't think anybody should have been
surprised that a project with only a half-dozen "active" members, or a
project that could go for months at a time without a single edit would
eventually be closed. If anything, we should be disappointed by the
members of that project who resisted a voluntary merger on several
occasions. I saw that the members there would rather their content be
trapped on a small, under-staffed and under-advertised project instead
of moving it to a larger project where it would get more legitimate
attention and exposure. I offered my own time on several occasions to
do the content transfer, and was always met with resistance. I know
other Wikibookians offered help as well, with similar results.

So don't be disappointed that the content was not saved at the last
possible moment. Be disappointed that we had months where we could
have been moving it and nobody made the effort. Be disappointed that
everybody in the whole wiki-world knew that Simple English Wikibooks
was not a viable project, except the "community" of people who worked
there and should have known best. Be disappointed that the people who
were supposed to be the caretakers of that content chose to let it get
deleted rather than have it moved someplace safe and active.

--Andrew Whitworth



On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 8:07 AM, Aaron Adrignola
<aaron.adrignola at gmail.com> wrote:
> Was anyone aware, when deciding that Simple English Wikibooks would be
> closed, that it would outright be deleted?  See
> http://simple.wikibooks.orgto see what I mean.
>
> This prevents any import of the content to English Wikibooks at all,
> regardless of how it would be done.  I know the bug filed to close the wiki
> only asked for closure and not deletion.
>
> I am disappointed by this move.  I had heard that it wouldn't reopen due to
> policies but I would have made an effort to import what content there was to
> at least our transwiki namespace had I known it would be deleted entirely.
>
> (Aaron) Adrignola
> English Wikibooks
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