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

[Gerard Meijssen]

geni schreef:
> On 12/22/06, Birgitte SB <birgitte_sb at yahoo.com> wrote:
>   
>> We would have a better edge on vandalism if we
>> required confirmed email adresses before allowing a
>> user to edit.  But the goal of Wikipedia is not
>> prevent vandalism at all costs.  I really don't
>> understand the particular problem with non-latin
>> vandals.  More inforamation is always better but why
>> is this information needed for vandal-fighting?
>>     
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Listusers type in various swear
> wods to start searches.
>
>   
>> I
>> have never had to type in any username to make a
>> block.  Everything is dome by clicking through links.
>> Click on  a diff to confirm vandalism, click on block
>> to block the user, click on contribs to cleanup the
>> mess.  For a major vandal; paste the link to the
>> contribs on IRC to solict help.  Whether the username
>> is english, bosian, or ????; I am not sure how it
>> would make a difference.
>>     
>
> Because I can't glance at recent changes and tell whcih of the half
> dozen ????? are problem users.
>
>   
It is your choice not to install fonts. So this is self inflicted 
damage. Something you punish others for.
>>  What do vandal fighters as
>> en.WP do differently than that makes non-latin
>> usernames a significant problem?
>>
>>     
>
> Some of our vandles have trademarks. It is also very hard to come up
> with large numbers of legit sounding names in a short timeframe. The
> result is that mayn vandles resort to nonsense names. If they can hide
> that by useing japanses characters I have lost a way of picking them
> up.
With SUL you can check out who and what they are within WMF. They will 
not only have but also have en.wikipedia history. So in stead of not 
knowing who they are you will find that they have extended history in 
other projects. So you will have gained a way of identifying your 
vandals in stead of lost a way of identifying them.

Thanks,
    GerardM