[Foundation-l] Wikiquote: to be, or not to be

[Pharos]

On Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 8:49 AM, Andrew Whitworth <wknight8111 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 12:59 AM, John Vandenberg <jayvdb at gmail.com> wrote:
>> There is a discussion on Meta to disband Wikiquote, or at least
>> consider the problems it faces and how to move forward.
>>
>> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metapub/On_disbanding_Wikiquote
>>
>> So far it is mostly people who have doubts about its utility, so
>> broader participation is desirable.  I appreciate that this is not
>> going to be a pleasant discussion for regular contributors to
>> Wikiquote, but I see it as a worthwhile discussion, even if it only to
>> re-affirm the community support for having a quote project now that
>> the encyclopedia and library project are rapidly encroaching on its
>> territory.
>
> I know this proposal is probably offensive to some people. Nobody
> wants to see "their project" closed, no matter what problems it may
> have. I've seen this with projects that are much worse off then
> en.wikiquote, and I would expect nothing less from the quoters (what
> do their members call themselves?).

<snip>

> I'm not in favor of closing wikiquote, but then again it could turn
> out to be the correct decision if questions like those above don't
> have clear and suitable answers. I hope people take this issue
> seriously because Wikiquote could seriously benefit from some
> thoughtful introspection.
>
> --Andrew Whitworth

I guess this might be another potentially offensive proposal, but I
think Wikiquote, given that it is in some ways the least successful of
the projects, might be a good test case for a remerge,
"wikicompendium"-style, back to Wikipedia.

I feel that the separation of the projects (and the consequent
fracturing of the community) may have been a historic mistake, and
that we should consider whether or not something like Wikiquote might
work better as a "Quote:" namespace on Wikipedia (while retaining the
conventions particular to Wikiquote).  I feel this is an experiment
that might be worth pursuing.

Thanks,
Pharos