[WikiEN-l] Fwd: [Foundation-l] English Wikipedia ethnocentric policy affects other communities

[MacGyverMagic/Mgm]

This has nothing to do with ethnocentric-ness it's language-centric-ness.
The English Wikipedia is written in English so usernames should be in a
Latin font so English administrators know who a user is and don't have to
wriggle in all sorts of odd angles to refer to such a user or to block them
for example. Also, Japanese characters are sufficiently confusing for
Westerners to fall under the "Don't make a username that's too similar to
another user's" rule.

And then there's people whose system doesn't support Japanese/Chinese/Korean
font.
It's simply impossible for the English Wikipedia to handle this from a
practical standpoint.

Mgm


On 12/20/06, Luna <lunasantin at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Forwarding from foundation-l, after a brief discussion between myself and
> the original poster. See more at:
> http://mail.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-December/thread.html
>
> "English Wikipedia ethnocentric policy affects other communities" --
> specifically, our username policy, and the practice of blocking non-Latin
> usernames on sight.
>
> Seems a number of multi-wiki users have felt pushed away or chagrined by
> this policy. Single-login seems like it might render the whole thing a
> moot
> point -- are we ready for the implications of that? Or does anything need
> to
> be done? Do we know how single-login will affect each wiki's ability to
> set
> and enforce a username policy, and if so, should changes to the policy
> result?
>
> Myself, I'm not sure of the answers to any of these questions, just yet.
> But
> it seems like we may as well discuss it.
>
> Apologies if I just happened to miss a prior thread -- if it's already
> happened, I don't remember seeing it.
>
> -Luna
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Aphaia <aphaia at gmail.com>
> Date: Dec 20, 2006 12:07 AM
> Subject: [Foundation-l] English Wikipedia ethnocentric policy affects
> other
> communities
> To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List <foundation-l at wikimedia.org>
>
> Hello,
> today a user on Japanese Wikipedia whose account is in Kana (a
> Japanese script) came to our Admins' noticeboard to request for
> chaning his username. He said he would have liked to do so because he
> had changed his username on English Wikipedia.
>
> I repeat again the English Wikipedia community should reconsider how
> shameful and discriptive policy they has about users' identity and
> respect of cultural diversity, and how badly it affects other
> communities. I am very sorry to see such a request fullfiled to our
> request page.
>
> Cheers,
> --
> KIZU Naoko
> Wikiquote: http://wikiquote.org
> * Nessuna poesia prima di noi *
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