[Wikipedia-l] spanish wikipedia

[Ray Saintonge]

Lars Aronsson wrote:

>Anthere wrote:
>
>>Ah, and who do you think would appoint a "site owner" ???
>>Jimbo ?
>>
>Yes, of course.  He owns the system, the name, and the machines.  He
>is very generous and liberal, but he is the owner.  It is not self-evident that you
>can reuse the name "Wikipedia", since that would be regulated by U.S.
>trademark law.  Jimmy might decide to form a non-profit organization
>under U.S. law or perhaps Swiss law (like the U.N.?).
>
>I'm not unhappy with this.  I fully trust Jimmy.  
>
This all depends on what importance, rights and responsibilities you 
attach to the concept of ownership.  There are intangible aspects of the 
project which are collectively owned.  In the short run I don't see 
ownership as a problem, and I'm not in a hurry to see a debate on the 
fine points of trademark law.  

I'm willing to accept the presumption that Jimmy is acting in good 
faith, and that he will give up personal ownership if he is confident 
about where the project will head afterwards.  There's no need to 
approach the subject with expectations of legal controversy.

>>Some of us support it is also a dictionary... :-)
>>
>
>If the trademark Wikipedia has some meaning (NPOV, etc.), perhaps
>defined by some charter, that meaning should be the same for all
>languages.  A year ago, Larry Sanger was very clear on the point that
>"Wikipedia is not a dictionary".  So if the French Wikipedia is
>becoming a dictionary, somebody is breaking this rule.  Either the
>French Wikipedia should straight up, or the rule should be revised.
>Since it is the trademark owner's (Jimmy's) interest to make sure the
>trademark keeps its meaning, he should appoint ambassadors who can
>help him maintain his policy in the various languages.
>
If the French Wikipedia feels that it is appropriate to include being a 
dictionary that's their business.  I don't see the need for them to be 
bound by one of Larry's rules from a year ago when thay had no 
opportunity to participate in its development.  Demanding that they 
"straighten up" would be unnecessarily dictatorial.  Trademarks are 
irrelevant to this point.  Appointing ambasadors to maintain policy 
would symbolize everything that most of us love to hate about the United 
States; it could inspire the Spanish "Eciclopedia Libre" to become 
multilingual.  

>This is why I think that an appointed ambassador or governor is
>needed, who knows the language and has the authority (from Jimmy) to
>tell people what the policy is, that they can join this list if they
>want to discuss the policy, and if they cannot accept this policy,
>then they must leave and start their own project.  
>
Frankly, (and speaking as an unrepentant leftist) from what I've seen of 
Jimmy's posts on this list, he has not exhibited symptoms of being such 
an autocrat.

Eclecticology