Stephen Gilbert wrote:
On the English Wikipedia we play by the "better safe than sorry" rule: if an article appears to be a copyright violation, we remove it.
Who are "we"? A non-formal group of core contributors, or Bomis staff? Is there a similar "we" for the non-English language Wikipediae?
It appears to me that Bomis actively "runs" the English Wikipedia, and almost don't care about the other languages. I think it would help greatly to assign the role of a responsible editor to some person for each language, perhaps Kurt Jansson or Stefan Rybo for the German, and Linus Tolke for the Swedish Wikipedia. This would make Wikipedia more like a franchising concept. The national wikipedias could be run on a separate site (like wiki.rozeta.com.pl) if the responsible editor ("franchising owner") finds that useful. Bomis would own the name Wikipedia and the concept and terms under which it is franchised.
I guess what I am saying is that the national Wikipedias need a Larry, and that there are people who can take on that role if they know the role exists.
(No, I am not a candidate for editor of the Swedish Wikipedia.)