[WikiEN-l] Discussion on English Wikipedia in languages other than English

Mon Jun 13 07:28:54 UTC 2005

So far I've only seen discussion in other languages in the user namespace.
Exactly how common do you think this is?

--Mgm

On 6/13/05, David Friedland <david at nohat.net> wrote:
> I have noted an increase of discussion on English Wikipedia in languages
> other than English lately. For now, I'll forgo naming languages and
> listing particular offenders here.
> 
> Do we have a policy on this? Should we?
> 
> My opinion is that we should not allow or least sternly frown upon
> discussion on the English Wikipedia in languages other than English.
> 
> Is this racist/anti-nationalist/Anglo-centric? I don't know. I like to
> consider myself open-minded, but there is something very ominous to me
> about discussions in foreign languages on the English Wikipedia. Of
> course, probably the vast majority of such discussions are completely
> innocuous, but the rest of us have no way of knowing that unless we know
> what the discussions are about. There is little more frustating that
> having a conversation (in some cases which is clearly about you) hidden
> in plain sight.
> 
> Of course I am symphathetic to users whose first language is not English
> and for whom discussing in English may be difficult. However, I am
> hesitant to extend such sympathy to being permissive of non-English
> discussion on the English Wikipedia, which is, after all, written in
> English. In the cases I have seen, the editors who are discussing in a
> foreign language have demonstrated elsewhere that they are competent
> writers of English, so it seems especially pernicious when they "lapse"
> into another language, as though they are hiding something.
> 
> The policy question is what to do about users who insist on carrying out
> discussion on the English Wikipedia in languages other than English.
> Users who discuss in other languages should be invited to translate
> their discussion (and remove the discussion in the original language to
> discourage responses in the original language) or have them removed. We
> should not remove such discussions summarily, of course, but after a set
> period of time given to the user to remove their discussion, informing
> them on their user page, etc.
> 
> The policy should not apply to user pages and user talk pages, but
> non-English discussion on those pages should at least be strongly
> discouraged. It creates an atmosphere of distrust.
> 
> We don't permit articles in foreign languages, so why should we permit
> discussion in foreign languages?
> 
> Please commence with the vilifying of me for being an insensitive
> Anglo-centric asshole.
> 
> - David [[User:Nohat]]
> 
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