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

[John Vandenberg]

On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 7:43 PM, Pharos <pharosofalexandria at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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.

I was earlier thinking of a Quote: namespace for Wikisource, as a way
to ensure that the source is provided in full first, before the quotes
are attached, or at least concurrently developed.  I hadnt thought of
a Quote namespace being part of Wikipedia - that could help allow the
fair-use quotes to be better managed.

--
John