[Wikipedia-l] Request for Tetum language - reminder

Thu Mar 9 23:37:31 UTC 2006

Hoi,
For your information, formally Mark does not have authority. There are
few people who are seen to be authorortive. He is however one of the
people who knows a lot about what languages are. In this case the
point he made was great. I was accepted as such.

Now, when you complain about Mark, I want to point out two things;
* What is your authority on this subject that you challenge him?
* You may have noticed that Mark has been really good in not going
overboard lately.

Most often I welcome the points that Mark makes. Certainly when he
makes his point once they are the best that can be heard.

As to the Moldovan fracas, it has definetly not been the worst project
that we have seen. Some projects were / are much worse. They are just
not that "in the public eye".

Thanks,
   GerardM

On 3/9/06, Silas Snider <swsnider at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Question:
>         What authority do you, Mark, have over the creation of a new wikipedia?
> Are you a developer? I don't seem to ever see you contributing patches,
> etc. on  wikitech-l. In fact, almost all the posts that I can see of
> yours involve some kind of discussion over orthography or languages in
> various wikipedias, especially when discussing closing one.
>
>         My point is: on what grounds do you consider it your job to be the
> arbiter of when a proposal for wikipedia creation is good enough?
>
> Sincerely,
> Silas Snider
>
> Mark Williamson wrote:
> > Yes, thanks.
> >
> > Mark
> >
> > On 09/03/06, Manuel de Sousa <manuel.sousa at tvtel.pt> wrote:
> >> I understand you point of view, Mark.
> >>
> >> I'll try to get this fixed and will come back again within a month, or so.
> >> Does this seem fair to you?
> >>
> >> Thanks & regards,
> >> Manuel de Sousa
> >>
> >> -----Mensagem original-----
> >> De: wikipedia-l-bounces at Wikimedia.org
> >> [mailto:wikipedia-l-bounces at Wikimedia.org] Em nome de Mark Williamson
> >> Enviada: quinta-feira, 9 de Março de 2006 3:50
> >> Para: wikipedia-l at Wikimedia.org
> >> Assunto: Re: [Wikipedia-l] Request for Tetum language - reminder
> >>
> >> I know that Portuguese is th esecond official language of East Timor.
> >>
> >> That's not what I asked.
> >>
> >> It doesn't inspire confidence that most of the pages in the test wiki
> >> are in Portuguese, when you are requesting a Wikipedia for Tetum.
> >>
> >> Mark
> >>
> >> On 08/03/06, Manuel de Sousa <manuel.sousa at tvtel.pt> wrote:
> >>> Mark,
> >>> Portuguese is the second official language of East Timor and is regarded
> >> as
> >>> a reference for Tetum. In the official Tetum, a huge amount of vocabulary
> >>> comes directly from Portuguese.
> >>>
> >>> Another reason is that, as far as I know, several of the supporters of
> >> this
> >>> project are Timorese university students studying in Portugal. So, the
> >> easy
> >>> way, would be to go to the Portuguese Wikipedia and copy a few articles,
> >> in
> >>> order to translate them later.
> >>>
> >>> Anyway, in the case of a testpage certain experiences must be tolerated.
> >>> Things will be different once the Tetum Wikipedia becomes real...
> >>>
> >>> Regards,
> >>> Manuel de Sousa
> >>>
> >>> -----Mensagem original-----
> >>> De: wikipedia-l-bounces at Wikimedia.org
> >>> [mailto:wikipedia-l-bounces at Wikimedia.org] Em nome de Mark Williamson
> >>> Enviada: quinta-feira, 9 de Março de 2006 3:30
> >>> Para: wikipedia-l at Wikimedia.org
> >>> Assunto: Re: [Wikipedia-l] Request for Tetum language - reminder
> >>>
> >>> One thing I noticed is that most of the testpages are in Portuguese. Why?
> >>>
> >>> Mark
> >>>
> >>> On 08/03/06, Manuel de Sousa <manuel.sousa at tvtel.pt> wrote:
> >>>> Last January 14 and 15 I sent two msg to this group
> >>>>
> >> (http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2006-January/043424.html
> >>>> and
> >>>>
> >> http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2006-January/043428.html),
> >>>> asking for the creation of a Wikipedia in Tetum language, one of the two
> >>>> official languages of Timor-Leste (or East Timor), the youngest
> >>> independent
> >>>> nation in the world (the other official language is Portuguese).
> >>>>
> >>>> In the meantime, this project got 15 supporters, 8 of them
> >> native-speakers
> >>>> of Tetum (see:
> >>>>
> >> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Approved_requests_for_new_languages#Tetum_.28
> >>>> 15_support_.5B8_native_speakers.5D.29).
> >>>>
> >>>> Subsequently, I created a test page
> >>>> (http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Test-wp/tet) that presently has a dozen
> >>>> articles in Tetum and a few others in the process of being translated to
> >>>> Tetum.
> >>>>
> >>>> Anyway, I find it difficult to attract Tetum-speaking people to work in
> >> a
> >>>> Wikipedia that is still in a test phase. So, I wonder if any developer
> >> can
> >>>> inform me if this new language version of Wikipedia is about to the set
> >> up
> >>>> or not.
> >>>>
> >>>> I'm absolutely convinced the Wikipedia in Tetum is viable, and that it
> >> can
> >>>> be an exceptional tool for East-Timorese to promote their national
> >>> language
> >>>> internally and abroad. And I'm not alone in this feeling. Giuseppe
> >>> d'Angelo
> >>>> said in a subsequent msg: "One can't understate what such a venture [the
> >>>> creation of a Wikipedia in Tetum] would do to the self-esteem of a whole
> >>>> people. It will take a while to get going, given their problems with
> >> basic
> >>>> infrastructure, but I am certain that it would eventually succeed. There
> >>> is
> >>>> also likely to be a thriving community of Tetum speakers in nearby
> >> Darwin,
> >>>> where they are likely to have better infrastructure - it's just a case
> >> of
> >>>> getting the message through to them."
> >>>>
> >>>> I will do my best to get the message to the East-Timorese in Australia,
> >> in
> >>>> Portugal, in Indonesia, etc. -- as well as in East Timor. But, first of
> >>> all,
> >>>> you [the developers] gotta set up this new Wikipedia.
> >>>>
> >>>> Plz let me know where are we standing of this.
> >>>>
> >>>> Thanks & regards,
> >>>> Manuel de Sousa
> >> --
> >> "Take away their language, destroy their souls." -- Joseph Stalin
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >>
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> >
> >
> > --
> > "Take away their language, destroy their souls." -- Joseph Stalin
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