On Tue, 9 Jul 2002, Daniel Mayer wrote:
We should consider doing some strategizing to make sure another fork doesn't happen (I hear members of the French wikipedia threatened a fork in the past).
There are two ways: 1) Be the better alternative (like former West Germany), or 2) Build a Berlin Wall and shoot any defectors (like former GDR).
The French Wikipedia runs the old software. The "Home Page" and "Recent Changes" links are not translated into French. ISBN numbers to French titles (such as on http://fr.wikipedia.com/wiki.cgi?Langage_C) lead to U.S. online bookstores that don't sell French titles. Page titles have Every Word In Caps, which is against French language use. I don't speak French, but these deficiencies are just so obvious, so showstopping.
I cannot understand how the French Wikipedia in its current state can succeed in attracting any new contributors.
If I were an active contributor to the French Wikipedia, I would fork now before the wall goes up, since there is nothing that indicates that Bomis has alternative (1) as their strategy for fr.wikipedia.com.
Here is a nice looking French Wiki with 600 pages and a weird kind of humor that I could show to my French-speaking friends, if I wanted to explain the Wiki concept to them, http://www.weaki.org/