[Wikipedia-l] [Intlwiki-l] www.wikipedia.org design

[Stephen Gilbert]

--- tarquin <tarquin at planetunreal.com> wrote:

> Whenever non-english 'pedias have asked "how come
> we're still on UseMod 
> and you guys are on phase III" we reply "because we
> tried cloning Brion 
> and it failed".
> Then they ask "so in the meantime, how about at
> least having equal URLs, 
> as a sign of goodwill", and we say "sorry, the
> mailing list is populated 
> by Golgafrinchams who are still discussing what
> colour the wheel should be."
> 
> Note that word: goodwill.

I want it on the record that I am neither a telephone
sanitizer nor a hair-dresser. ;-)

Also on the record: I am firmly against a static
"portal" page at www.wikipedia.org. I think it's a
very bad idea.

That does not mean:

a) I'm advocating English as the most important
Wikipedia language.
b) I'm trying to insult people who think it is a good
idea.
c) I'm trying to stall progress on interlanguage
issues.
d) I don't care about the other languages.
e) I don't care about goodwill.
f) I'm secretly in love with the Cunctator.

It simply means I'm against the static front page
idea.  I don't think it solves any fundamental
problems, but that's not the point; even if it was
*only* a symbolic gesture of goodwill I would support
it. However, I believe it would be harmful to the
project as a whole, not just the English language part
of the project.

I, along with others, have stated my reasons, and I'll
state them again if requested. I (again, with others)
have proposed an alternate solution that I believe
would extend the same goodwill, be more functional,
and avoid the pitfalls of a static front page of
links. I will state this again too upon request.

In summary, I couldn't care less what colour the wheel
is. I just don't want it to be square.

Stephen G.

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