Hoi,
The localisation is of particular importance for the readers and for the
editors that do not know the language that is chosen as the secondary
language. With the start of the Incubator there is a good place to start a
project and build up enough steam to stand on its own.
There are two groups of people in the WMF; there are those that are of the
opinion that more language support is a distraction and there are those that
are of the opinion that there are too many hoops that new projects have to
jump through. By defining minimum requirements we aim to prevent the failure
of projects and we aim to provide a good user experience for new languages
when the project goes life. In this way we reach out to both groups and both
groups are likely not to be happy anyway. Our argument is that in this way
we aim to optimise the effectiveness of new projects, not only is a language
supported for a WMF project and also MediaWiki supports a new language.
Thanks,
GerardM
On 11/1/07, Andre Engels <andreengels(a)gmail.com> wrote:
2007/10/31, Nikola Smolenski <smolensk(a)eunet.yu>yu>:
As a mathematician, I believe you will appreciate
the metaphor of
quantum
tunelling. The same way a particle can
"tunnel" through an energy
barrier it
would otherwise not be able to go through, a
project could pass a
"knowledge
barrier", if helped.
It can, but I don't see how that means that one way of helping them
(giving them a localized interface) would be superior to another way
of helping them (giving them a wiki to start with)
Localisation is an excellent example of this. We
can all agree that
people are
less likely to contribute to a Wikipedia if there
is no localisation.
Localisation, however, requires a technically competent person to do it.
If a
given community has no such person, or all such
persons are too
preocupied
with other matters to do it in their free time,
the localisation will
not be
done. It might not be done for years, decades, or
- ever.
And these years and decades are years and decades during which the
project
won't be developed, or will be developed at a
much slower rate.
So instead we don't allow it to develop at all? We just sit and wait,
don't work on other blockades until this one is resolved? That will
help a language grow!
I don't disagree that localization is a good thing, although I do
think its effect is smaller than you seem to think. In my view, the
first and foremost need is people - have 1 contributor, and the
project will probably die, have 3 and it's in serious danger, have 5
and it's likely to live, have 10 and it's ready thrive.
Still, having a localization would be a good thing. However, the issue
is: how much importance does it get, and how is it achieved. Currently
the situation is that it gets foremost importance, and is achieved by
withholding most other things a project would need or want (like an
own wiki and an official status) until it has been resolved. To me,
that's giving much too much importance to just one piece of what makes
a successful Wikipedia. Let the people from a Wikipedia language
decide for themselves what is important to their project at which
moment. Give them ample opportunities to localize their interface, and
point them towards the possibility, if necessary multiple times, but
if they still decide they'd rather work on a non-localized interface
rather than spend their time on localizing it, accept that in the end
it is their choice to make.
--
Andre Engels, andreengels(a)gmail.com
ICQ: 6260644 -- Skype: a_engels
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