[Wikipedia-l] Is a press release now a good idea?

Fri Oct 3 20:19:27 UTC 2003

>>Daniel Mayer wrote:

>>Jimbo wrote:
>  >
>>It may just be me, but I think at this point we
should just wait 
>>a couple to a few weeks for the more inclusive and
exciting-sounding  "one 
>>third of a million" milestone. The number of
non-English articles should also 
>>outnumber the English ones by then, so we could also
announce that.  
>>
Good idea.

> >
>>What do others think? This could be something we
>allow each Wikipedia version 
>>to decide on its own 
>
>The press release was worked on as a cross-language
>thing -- I think it 
>should stay as such.

I can read this only with a lot of pain. The press
release was not only written to be a cross language
thing, but it was also written to announce what it is
announcing today.

Either the site is ok (perhaps in a couple of days)
and we send the release
Either it is not, and we just abandon the proposition.

For me, one third million does not speak any better
than 300 000. I would even say it does not sound as
good, as the reader does not see jackpot numbers on
front of his eyes.

I try 

COMMUNIQUE DE PRESSE : WIKIPEDIA atteint 300 000
articles

versus

COMMUNIQUE DE PRESSE : WIKIPEDIA atteint un tiers de
million d'articles

sorry, that is ugly

in any case, if technical limitations are an argument,
33000 more articles are not.

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