[Wikipedia-l] Re: Gothic Wikipedia

[Tim Starling]

Mark Williamson wrote:
> The reasons you work on the project can't justify helping to build an
>  encyclopedic resource for a fledgling community of native speakers
> who will start growing into such a resource in the next couple of
> years? Just curious, but what exactly are the reasons you work on
> this project, and what requirements must a language meet to be
> justifiable in terms of them?

I already said what my reasons for working on this project are, and I'm
not required to justify them to you. You're welcome to learn how to
write language files, obtain shell access and CVS access, and add all
the languages the community will tolerate. But don't tell me how I
should be spending my time.

I agree with Delirium, who wrote:

: ...I can't seriously see people using the Gothic Wikipedia as a
: source of general encyclopedia-type information.  If you want to know
: some random fact (say, the biography of Charlemagne), why would anyone
: look for it in a Gothic-language encyclopedia?

I think that's an important point.

I think your assertion that parents will teach their children Gothic as 
a first language is ridiculous. In fact I sincerely hope they don't. 
There's a difference between language preservation and language revival, 
and I'm not ashamed about supporting one but not the other. No doubt 
linguistics is an interesting field, but there are lots of interesting 
fields and I can't get involved in all of them.

There are 16 people with shell access, and any one of them can do what 
I'm suggesting. I suggest you go and bug one of them instead of wasting 
your time interrogating me about my motives.

-- Tim Starling