[Foundation-l] The status of smaller languages on the Wikimedia Commons

Fri May 5 09:30:59 UTC 2006

Brianna Laugher wrote:
>  Why you are talking about a meta-subcommittee I wonder, I
>   
>> was thinking more in terms of the communication committee and its
>> translation subcommittee. With the new structures that are put in place,
>> there are new opportunities to find ways of getting your message out.
>>     
>
> OK, I repeat: what subcommittee? Link, please? What is this
> committee's relationship with the Commons supposed to be? Were we
> informed that it existed and we should use it? Or should we be
> scouring [[meta:]] everyday, or...? (Two-way street, & all that...)
>
> Another part of
>   
>> making Commons more relevant is called InstantCommons and we are waiting
>> for the special projects committee to finally inform us that we can
>> start coding.
>>     
>
> [[m:InstantCommons]] has nothing much to do with the WM foundation or
> its projects, which is what I thought we were discussing?
>   
Wrong. InstantCommons has everything to do with the WM Foundation. 
InstantCommons would have been coded by now if this was not the case.
> But please do communicate big things, do use the Foundation or
>   
>> the Wikipedia list for things that are profound. It is the lack of
>> communication that creates resentment it is not the fact that things are
>> done.
>>     
>
> Well that's fine! I would be very happy to write a fortnightly or
> monthly summary of major activities and discussions taking place on
> Commons. Is that what is desired? Maybe it will encourage more people
> to take an interest. But nobody's ever told us we should do this! You
> are resentful at us for not doing something we were never informed we
> had a duty to do. What "big things", exactly, are we remiss in not
> reporting?
>   
A summary of what happened is nice. It is not what I am really 
interested in. What I am interested in is having things announced before 
they happen. This will have, as an effect, that people do not have the 
excuse that they did not know. They will have less reason to moan (they 
will anyway). When you say nobody told us, you mean nobody told you. 
Fine. This has been discussed at previous occasions when we had a flash 
in the commons pan.
> I look forward to your definition of "profound" and "big things" so I
> should know what level of detail to provide. If "profound" includes
> ***the appearance of a language navigation template*** you should
> expect a nice long report!
>
> (BTW - a post without the accusations of conspiracy and racism, on
> commons-l or the Village pump, requesting such communications would
> have been a much better bridge towards "better communication")
> Brianna
Conspiracy; not from me. Racism; the Danes are as lily white as any 
other predominantly Caucasian people but we are talking languages here 
not people. Posting on commons-l is not what I do. I may be one of the 
bigger contributors to Commons (last time I looked some 13.000 files) it 
is not the main thing I do.

As to my definition of "profound"; changes in policy that affect usage 
need to be communicated widely before they are finalised and implemented.

Thanks,
   GerardM