[Wikipedia-l] Hobby wikipedia policy

Sun Mar 12 21:43:07 UTC 2006

Exactly! The situation is not really same as with Serbian Wikipedia. In 
the SR case, Cyrillic and Latin scripts are both equal and are both 
considered standard scripts. Therefore, an automatic transliterator 
makes sense. However, in RO/MO case, only a small percentage of 
speakers, let alone Wikipedians, use Cyrillics. It would make no sense 
for RO to have both scripts if one of them is virtually never going to 
be used. But, that can be avoided. SR Wikipedia now has the engine and 4 
extra tabs for 4 written standards of the Serbian language and users can 
always see those tabs. However, if coded properly, one could make such 
an extension where the extra tab (for Cyrillic script) could be seen 
only if a user wanted it to be seen (which would basically require 
checking a box in user preferences). That way, Romanian users wouldn't 
have to know that the transliteration tool even existed, AND Moldavian 
speakers could turn the feature on if they wanted.

Filip

Caroline Ford wrote:

>There seems to be no way that Romanians will tolerate cyrillic language
>(even via a software setting) on their wikipedia.
>
>Caroline/secretlondon 
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: wikipedia-l-bounces at Wikimedia.org
>[mailto:wikipedia-l-bounces at Wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Neil Harris
>Sent: 12 March 2006 18:08
>To: wikipedia-l at Wikimedia.org
>Subject: Re: [Wikipedia-l] Hobby wikipedia policy
>
>Jacky PB wrote:
>  
>
>>Hello,
>>
>>I feel that I need a clarification on wikipedia policies related to hobby
>>    
>>
>wikipedias.
>  
>
>>Consider the case of the Moldovan language. The Moldovan wikipedia has
>>    
>>
>been created and administered by Mark Williamson, which does not speak the
>language correctly. He copied (and replaced the latin script with cyrillic)
>a lot articles from ro.wiki, just to create what looks like a viable
>wikipedia. I presume exotic languages are a hobby for him, I have no problem
>with this. Even originality is not a problem, given that the purpose of wiki
>is to inform.
>  
>
>>However, the Moldovan language is not extinct, so the oppinion of 
>>native speakers should count. The problem being that no 
>>Moldovan-speaking wikipedia user supports Mark Williamson. And when I 
>>say no user, I really mean that there is none. Actually, most Moldovan 
>>users dislike the existence of this wiki, because the Moldovan 
>>language is actually a creation of the Soviet authorities. To support 
>>this affirmation, note that there is no registered Moldovan user on 
>>en.wiki, meta.wiki, and not even mo.wiki. :)
>>
>>So, given that this hobby wikipedia actually hurts the very people it 
>>was intended  to help, is it normal that it remains online? I remind you
>>    
>>
>once more that no actual Moldovan supports it. By Moldovan speaker I mean a
>person able to write Moldovan correctly.
>  
>
>>I mean, if wikipedia policy is to grant users hobby wikipedias, Mark
>>    
>>
>should get his, but maybe not using the official ISO code.
>  
>
>>Yours,
>>Dpotop
>>
>>PS: I am sorry for bugging you with this, but some things discussed here
>>    
>>
>must be clearly said.
>  
>
>>  
>>    
>>
>
>In the apparent absence of community support for mo:, and after watching the
>many comments on this list, I think the best short-term option is to start
>work on the transliteration software settings.
>
>Then we can lock, rather than delete, the mo: Wikipedia, with a note saying
>why, what the planned changes are, and when they are expected to be carried
>out.
>
>Then, when the automated transliteration software has been properly
>configured to support both Cyrillic and Latin scripts in both the content
>and user interface, the content of mo: can be deleted, perhaps after a
>period of a few weeks to allow for any valuable content to be archived, and
>transferred if necessary.
>
>Whether mo: should simply redirect, or whether it should (for example)
>change the user interface or default language settings, would then be a
>matter for the Moldovan community.  Liaison between the larger community and
>as many actual Moldovan speakers as possible would be very useful in getting
>this process going, and would also be useful in expanding the Moldovan
>Wikipedia community.
>
>Given that someone has (I believe) already written some language-appropriate
>Latin <-> Cyrillic transliteration code, and given MediaWiki's support for
>automated transliteration (eg. in the traditional and modern Chinese
>Wikipedias), the only problem is the will to get the transliteration code
>set up.
>
>If I've followed the debate properly, I hope this would be a win for both
>Latin and Cyrillic users.
>
>Perhaps Jacky and Mark would like to help with getting the transliteration
>tables ready?
>
>-- Neil
>
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