Telling the whole story RE: [Wikipedia-l] Re: Press release : Logoputsch ontheFrenchWikipedia !

[Jake Nelson]

I'd like to chime in in support of what Cunctator's saying. I've yet to see
an example of those given that isn't a clear case of what should NOT happen.
I would like to know about the Statue of Liberty in France, the Dutch
parliament's position on Iraq, and all of that, but I'm only good with
English.
Even if I thought that assuming anything based on someone's language was
other than a terrible idea, I'd say that the suggestions are opposite to
what we should be doing. If we assume that those who speak Dutch are in the
Netherlands, the people who'd read the Dutch Wikipedia already know quite a
bit about the Dutch parliament and its stance on Iraq, and moreover, know a
lot of the background. An English-language-only American might be interested
in why the Netherlands is doing whatever it is that it's doing, go to the
en:wikipedia, and not find anything about it, because it wasn't felt to be
of interest for en-ers.
Which is what this is, and I didn't see until I wrote that last line-
censorship. What's being suggested in the argument that the different
languages of Wikipedia should have different content is that some people,
because they don't think speakers of my language would be interested in a
topic, block our access to information on it. Sure, it's mild, and without
malice, but one thing I cannot abide is other people choosing for me what
information I should and should not be able to receive. Correspondingly, it
is a good act for someone to make information available to those who would
not otherwise have it- if I didn't believe that, I wouldn't be contributing.
(My biggest complaint against Wikipedia is WWIN.)
As such, I think that it is one of the most important contributions a user
can make to bring content across the languages wherever they're able to do
so. (I'm still a novice with any other language, or I'd do it myself. It
might go faster if I were ever trying to learn less than 5 at a time, heh.)

Not that I have any strong opinions about this or anything... ;)

-- Jake