On Mon, Apr 05, 2004 at 08:06:12AM -0700, Ray Saintonge wrote:
Andre Engels wrote:
>It varies, but then, it also varies for some much larger languages (Marathi
>with 65 million speakers has only 4 pages, for example). There's four
>Wikipedia languages with less than 100.000 speakers, none of them getting
>anywhere serious, however the fifth smallest language (Icelandic, 250.000
>speakers) managed to get to a number of 9 Wikipedians (with 10 or more
>logged-in edits), and is seriously trying to make something.
Regretably, in a few instances the proponents start
the wiki in their
language just to see if it can be done. When they have immediate
success, they lose interest.
I can talk from experience.
HU was existing since 1991, and contained 5 pages (when I last counted). One
main page with dead links, 1 page with real, short content, and the others
varying from "hehehehe" to "*** your *** *** mother".
I convinced brion to flush it down the toilet and start again, and invested
considerable amount of time to get it started. Now, with 5 or so permanent
editors it is alive and probable won't die anymore.
What a new language needs is more than zero permanent editor with dedication
to create as much articles that makes it look like a worthwile waste of time
for the people walking nearby. I'd say without 3 dedicated editors (friends
preferably) a new language should not be started. It is probably going to
get extinct soon, because there are at least 50 articles required to be
created before people consider it serious.
Maybe I should write that into [[Wikipedia:What to expect when you start a
new langauge Wikipedia]]?
I suppose that a seriously inactive
Wikipedia could be put into suspense, and the work that has already been
done could be revived if there is a renewed interest. From the above
list Manx, Maori, and Corsican would be candidates for suspension
depending on how long since their last activity.
I do not yet see the purpose and method of this suspension. Deactivating the
domain would change the neutral effect to negative. These wikipediaes
suspend themselves.
Maybe there could be a boilerplate text on the main page of the zombie
wikipedias that "this wikipedia lacks supporters of this natural language
speakers and doesn't evolve right now. if you want to adopt this orphan, and
want to dedicate time, see [[XXXX]] what to expect"... or like. In their
natural language, preferably.
grin