Rotem-
Please, I would not like to argue about something
silly as this, my
arguments are nor "correct" nor "incorrect"
They are incorrect.
I was just trying to make
small improvements to the HTML layout
Your improvements would be no improvements.
to make it more simpler and easier
for users to use. If they won't like it it would have been reverted to
the previous version.
By whom? By them? They don't have access to the skin code. If we give you
access to the code, you'll effectively be the gatekeeper for the Hebrew
wiki. I don't like that idea given the kind of misconceptions you have
about so-called "autonomy". Now you're even talking about different
licenses!
As for trying to "sneak" things in, I
thought different language
versions gets autonomy regarding decisions like this.
What made you think that? The only code autonomy is in the language files.
If every language gets its own little "fixes", code maintenance becomes a
nightmare. This is not going to happen. If you want improvements, or if
your users ask for improvements, tell this to the mailing list and we'll
discuss whether these improvements would truly be improvements, and
implement them for all wikis *or not at all*. This is not bureaucratic,
this is the way we have always done things. It's the only way to maintain
a common codebase.
I have
many ideas and I know a bit of PHP. If the users (that actually use that
wiki) want a feature, bug fix, or a change on wiki X, why not just let
them have it?
1) Because it will then become more and more difficult to update the code
of that wiki from the CVS versions as the two code trees start to diverge
from each other, and your users will start whining that they don't get
feature X that's in the English Wikipedia, because adding said feature to
the Hebrew Wikipedia causes a merge conflict with the special code that
Rotem Dan added there;
2) Because if that feature, bug fix or change is useful, than all other
wikis should have it. The Hebrew wiki is running on our server with
manpower invested by people who have nothing to do with its contents,
there's no way you are going to make a bug fix without making the same
bugfix to the rest of the project as well. You benefit from our work, we
benefit from yours. Simple, no? And if it isn't useful, then well,
obviously the Hebrew wiki shouldn't have it either.
3) Because that feature, bug fix or change may have implications or
effects that your users do not understand; this makes it necessary to
discuss it first. The place to have such discussions is *here*, on the
wikitech mailing list.
4) Because consistency across the different Wikipedia projects is
essential for usability; bilingual users or users of several wiki-projects
will expect the different wikis they are on to operate in the same way,
and will be confused if each wiki makes it own little adaptations.
Furthermore, this weakens the Wikimedia brand, which is important for
being recognized internationally.
I think that reagardless of geographical, national
etc. differences on
wiki users demographies (that I think has nothing to do with anything
here anyway).
he.wikipedia.org is a complete, (almost) independent site,
that has its users and readers, they should be the ones who vote for
decisions related to their site, including policy,
Key elements of the policy, such as NPOV, are the same for all wikis. A
wiki that does not follow the NPOV convention but makes up its own in its
place would likely be kicked off the server quite quickly.
wiki code
The code is the same for all wikis. The only differences are language-
specific additions. Most layout "fixes" are *not* language-specific.
layout,
licensing
The licensing is the same for all wikis. The fundamentals of the layout
are also the same.
and logo.
There should be a common look and feel for all wikis. Small variations in
the logo are acceptable, though.
Look, if you don't want to be part of the Wikipedia/Wikimedia project,
just say so. If you want to do everything by your own rules and ignore
common conventions and policies, you will have to set up your own wiki,
preferably with your own code. But don't waste our time if you don't want
to play by the rules.
Slightly annoyed,
Erik
