[Wikipedia-l] embassies and diplomats

[koyaanisqatsi at nupedia.com]

Hello,

I wanted to revisit the issue that the red links brought up, and the Spanish fork before that: the non-English wikipedias often feel left out, snubbed, and/or ignored.  I don't want to debate whether they should or not, because it's not productive and people never want to be told how they should feel anyway.  That they do feel that way is a problem, regardless of whether we think it should be.

I've been talking with one of the contributors to the French wikipedia, and I think the other wikipedias feel isolated because of a general lack of communication about policy and software issues.  I'd like to propose a few ideas we've come up with to deal with the problem:

1: we could ask for volunteer wikipedia diplomats: polyglots who are willing to inform various communities about policy and software discussions taking place that may affect them.  This idea would require people willing to help and keep up on the issues, and probably be a burden.  I can't imagine many people with enough zeal to do it: mav and the indefatigable Ram-Man, if s/he is bilingual, and not many others (including myself).

2: we could create a special page on each wikipedia to post relevant issues to, in English.  This is not an ideal solution, even though many people speak English: it would be preferable to post fluently in that wiki's language, and also we'd have several pages to update each time and might forget one.  However, this solution is better than the de facto one we have now, which is to take whatever action people on the list agree on, and then field complaints from people who aren't on the list (not everyone speaks English, of course, so please don't say that they should just sign up).  :-)

3: We could create a page on the English wikipedia posting a summary of the current issues and pointing people towards wherever the discussion is taking place (talk pages, list, etc.).  Then we could post a link to it in each wikipedia requesting that interested people follow the page.  This would be burdensome for them, because they would have to visit the link periodically and check for pages, and because the people who do speak English would have to translate for the others.

4: we could create that page mentioned above but modify the "watch this page" function to allow people on any wiki to watch a page on any other wiki.  That's a good idea, but I imagine people active on several wikipedias would eventually have their watch page turn into a confusing mess.  So it might call for multiple watch lists, a less-than-great solution unless they're all available from any wikipedia.  Also, it still requires translators.

5: we could post a link on each wikipedia labeled "policy discussion."  Like "user talk:" at the top right, it could indicate when the page has changed since your last visit.  Still requires translators.

6: we could install the software on the non-English wikipedias, explain how to change options, etc., and let them adminsitrate it themselves.  Doesn't require English, does require ComputerSpeak.

I think a good general suggestion would be to change agreed-on options only on the English wikipedia, since it's typically only English-speaking people who agree to it, and then to post that the new option is available to the other wikipedias as well--but not mandatory.

I do not think I'm exaggerating the issue; and if you've ever spent much time in a place where you do not speak the language and others don't speak English, then I'm sure you'll agree.  It's quite easy to feel frustrated.  And, of course, a series of misunderstandings is what led to the Spanish fork.

I'm very interested in comments and other ideas. 

kq