shantanu oak wrote:
Hi,
The FAQ page (Don't remember the URL) tells that
wikisource.org should
be used for copyright expired source material and if wikipedians want
to start writing a book,
wikibooks.org is the right place. (The actual
wording may be different, I have written it in plain english)
The differentiating line between these two projects is so thin, that I
am confused.
The key differentiating factor is in the originality of the work. A
work on Wikisource must have been published elsewhere before. Respect
for copyright is important in both projects, and is not a
differentiating factor. Wikisource will allow works whose copyright has
not expired if they have been properly licensed under GFDL.
The one area where there has not been a strong insistence on prior
publication at Wikisource has been with computer source code. I
personally would like to see it all moved to Wikibooks, but not enough
to have a major battle over it.
Will all the languages at wikisource get their own
sub-domains? I asked the question but got no answer. There are a few
languages which share the same writing style but are totally different
in expression. For e.g. Marathi and Hindi. When someone is searching
for Marathi source material, he certainly don't expect to see Hindi
pages. Having a separate sub-domain will solve that problem.
Having Marathi and Hindi in the same project should be no more a problem
than having English and Turkish, or Arabic and Urdu. A person literate
in Marathi should in most cases be easily able to recognize which
language he is looking at in the list of titles, and just not bother to
visit the Hindi pages. Is there something embarassing about seeing
Hindi pages in the same place? Am I missing something in the
relationship between the Marathi and Hindi communities?
The argument about a united or separate sub-domains was quite heated.
For now, except for one language, we are continuing as a united
sub-damain, even though this issue could come up again in the future.
The united domain has had some interesting effects, notably in the
efforts that people have made and have become willing to make in finding
ways to work together. Such a willingness is what makes a wiki stronger.
Ec
PS: I agree with Brion that this is not a Wikitech question, and if I
am to make any further comments on this it will be on the main Wikipedia
mailing list, now that you know about it.