[Wikipedia-l] Request for new Wikipedia: Friulian

[Rowan Collins]

On Sat, 30 Oct 2004 02:02:27 -0700, Mark Williamson <node.ue at gmail.com> wrote:
> The problem is that to do that, I need to be able to write a press
> release in the target language.

Which is, of course, another reason we need at least one dedicated,
fluent, user to support and nurture any new Wikipedia.

As for what is wrong with an abandoned Wikipedia, they become a haven
for vandalism, spam, and generally undesirable content. I seem to
remember hearing about a language where the entire content of the wiki
appeared to be essentially gibberish, and not the language of that WP
at all.

The problem is therefore that as soon as you create a new wiki, it is
instantly and permanently editable by all, so if you're community
dries up, there is a risk that it will just be abused, with no-one to
look after it. That doesn't really equate to loss of resources, but it
does dilute the Wikimedia "brand" - can you imagine what a field day
our detractors would have if it was revealed that there are a dozen
"translations" of Wikipedia that contained nothing but garbage and
spam? [I'm not saying this is the case, I'm just saying that this is
the risk we are weighing up here.]

As has been pointed out, just the number of initial contributors is a
bad indicator; but we do need some indication that a solid community
is likely to emerge; and personally, I don't think number of fluent
speakers (or even fluent speakers with net connections) provides this
indication.  Perhaps, instead, we need some kind of "enthusiasm test",
to show that the user(s) starting it is/are going to dedicate time to
getting it off the ground, not just in terms of seeding the content,
but also recruiting the community. I'm not saying we should make
language creation some hideously complex process and put off anyone
who's a little bit nervous, but perhaps some clear guidelines of what
creating an effective new wiki involves, and a confirmation that there
is somebody willing to undertake that process.

-- 
Rowan Collins BSc
[IMSoP]