[Wikipedia-l] Re: The Board -> some answers

Anthere anthere9 at yahoo.com
Wed Sep 15 13:17:49 UTC 2004


Hmmm, okay. I think you guys have concerns, and we need to adress them. 
So I will try to answer the best I can.

First point.
Since I was part of the discussion on wikispecies on wikipedia-l, and 
had an opinion on the matter, I wish to insist that I was not the 
promoter of the decision making.
However, I thought it was a good idea to make that decision, hence I 
voted. I will come back on the reason why it was imho a good idea later.

Second point.
For those who followed carefully the discussion, I, as an individual, am 
in favor of the project be separated from Wikipedia, though strongly 
integrated. I will not come back on my arguments, I already gave them 2 
weeks ago.
However, if I had had the feeling there was a strong consensus for NOT 
having a separated project, I would probably not have supported it on 
the board. I *can* vote in a way that I do not think is the best, but is 
  more acceptable to the community, while still acceptable for me.
In this case, it appeared to me there was no obvious consensus, but I 
felt the case was more supported on the "separated project" side, hence 
I voted along my heart.


John Lee a écrit:
> The sentiment is dittoed here. I don't have a clue what all this hoo-ha 
> is about, but that fact alone seems to suggest that something 
> clandestine occurred.

Point 3:
The fact you do not know of the topic should not suggest that things are 
done in a clandestine way. The whole project got huge, and it has become 
impossible for anyone to know any time what is going on everywhere.
Just as no human being may know everything, but each of us know a bit.

Point 4:
I do not think it is reasonable to say that the topic was clandestine. A 
huge wikispecies occured on this very list just a few weeks ago, and it 
was unlikely to go on unnoticed. Since you are registered to that list, 
you should not have missed that discussion.
Aside from this, many discussions occured on the irc channel, both on 
the #wikipedia (which I may suggest, should become #en.wikipedia, while 
#wikipedia become a more general channel) and on #wikimedia. Perhaps 
also on #mediawiki.
The irc channels are public discussion place, and everyone is welcome to 
join anytime. Many of the discussions between Angela, Jimbo and I take 
place over there. If you are interested, you are most welcome :-)
Finally, there were some report on meta, which you may find here : 
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Board_meetings/5_September_2004
Unless I am wrong, this link was also given on this ml.




 From what I understand, this is something that, if
> worked out correctly, *could* be beneficial to all the Wikipedias. So 
> why haven't I heard anything about this on en.wikipedia.org? It's not 
> even on the Community Portal.

Point 5 : Things that could be beneficial to all wikipedias do not 
belong to the english wikipedia. They belong to meta, or to wikipedia-l 
or on foundation-l.
There are currently more than 50 active languages. We try to unite those 
interested by meta topics or by new projects in places where everyone 
can share. En.wikipedia is not one of these places.
I also do not think it is fair to expect from the board to go and visit 
all 50 projects in turns, to put each and another information on the 
local portal page. Everyone should feel concerned by the need there is 
for information to be conveyed.
Either some people for each project feel concerned and translate 
information, or interested people of each local project come hear to 
participate.

One attempt at centralizing information has been done on the meta 
goings-on : http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Goings-on
I regularly go there to update this page and a couple of people think of 
doing this as well.
I had hoped that on projects where there are hundreds of contributors 
(such as en), someone will take the time to just COPY the information 
which is already in ENGLISH from meta to the english goings-on.
I invite you to look at the current english goings-on, this is self 
explanatory : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia%3AGoings-on

I understand your concerns, but I do not think there is a lack of 
information provided. I do not think either that there are not enough 
places to find the information. I just think that people need to be 
explained over and over and over where to find the information.



And the fact that someone as even-headed
> as mav is even thinking about quitting makes me wonder just what's going on.
> 
> John Lee
> ([[User:Johnleemk]] on En)
> 
> Christopher Mahan wrote:
> 
>> --- Daniel Mayer <maveric149 at yahoo.com> 
>> wrote:
>>
>> <snip></snip>
>>
>>  
>>
>>> Daniel Mayer (who is now seriously re-evaluating his participation
>>> in Wikipedia
>>> and Wikimedia)   
>>
>>
>>
>> When mav says things like this, I don't have to go read 25+ posts to
>> know that something has gone horribly wrong.


>> I suggest that we:
>> --Just build a free encyclopedia
>> --Work with each other respectfully
>> --Leave the rest of the ideas for another project, another year.


Point 7 : Some people here, like Benedikt, or Gerard, have other ideas 
and other dreams. Perhaps it is not treating them respectfully to tell 
them "just integrate this in Wikipedia" or to tell them "leave that 
aside for a year".

I have much respect for Mav opinions, but I also recognise there other 
ideas. That does not mean one side is wrong. But if people have the 
energy to have new ideas, that deserve attention.



>> PS: If we all even get close to becoming another ICANN, I'll be out
>> the door with mav.
>>  
>>





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