[Wikipedia-l] Mark Williamson and the request for Tetum language WP

Sat Mar 11 17:09:54 UTC 2006

I would just like to add my own comments on all this.

At first, by the way Mark acted, I really thought he was the one who could
decide if a new WP would be created or not. And, I agree, he was a bit harsh
on the way he expressed his opinion.

Anyway, I think his arguments are valid and I really didn’t felt threatened
or intimidated by his words. I'm already 40 years old, so I guess I don’t
get intimidated that easily...

Well, give me a few weeks and I'll come back, hopefully, with o more vibrant
test-wiki in Tetum!

But plz don’t forget that, apart form being the youngest country in the
world, East Timor is also the poorest country in Asia... So, all help is
needed!

Regards,
Manuel de Sousa

-----Mensagem original-----
De: wikipedia-l-bounces at Wikimedia.org
[mailto:wikipedia-l-bounces at Wikimedia.org] Em nome de future civilization
Enviada: sábado, 11 de Março de 2006 6:39
Para: wikipedia-l at Wikimedia.org
Assunto: Re: [Wikipedia-l] Request for Tetum language - reminder/
analogywith deletion of Moldovan Wikipedia

Yes, indeed. Mark doesn't have any authority and/or credibility, as himself
admits. He is very interested in closing/opening any wikipedia but he uses a
very disruptive language towards the new users. This disruptive language
shows his limited comprehension on wikipedias in various languages. In this
way he discourage people who are enthusiast to close/open new wikipedias. He
has no power to decide for such a decision at the very least he wants to ask
for attention. Maybe this is explained by his early age in life. You can't
have any authority having only 16-17 years. 

  His style is to demolish everything and has a strongly counter-effect, a
strong negative one on what happens in Wikipedia. I checked his blocking log
and shows a mean, very strong negative behaviour.

  You appear to take an extremely keen interest in the closing / opening
of wikipedias, more so than the average poster on this list. I am just
worried about newcomers who are excited about creating a wikipedia
getting discouraged because someone, without the community's backing,
acted as though he had the power to approve or deny the request. This
came out extremely strongly in your last message to Manuel.

I am not saying that you should stop being interested in the creation
and destruction of wikipedias -- I am just worried about your style of
discussing them.

Silas Snider <swsnider at gmail.com> wrote:
  -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: RIPEMD160

Mark Williamson wrote:
>> 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,
> 
> Put simply, I don't. I have no real authority. However, I do know that
> I have some sway, because different people have varying degrees of
> respect for me in the matter of languages. There are certainly those
> who don't trust me at all or who think I don't know much of anything
> at all about languages, but I think most people believe that I know
> quite a bit about languages but at the same time have problems with
> other things about me so they take most of my opinions/advice under
> advisement.
> 
> If some developer wants to create a Tetum WP immediately, I have no
> say in that. However, I'm pretty sure that the Wikimedia community as
> a whole will have much more enthusiasm for the creation of a Tetum
> Wikipedia if its test-wiki is more vibrant and is in 100% Tetum.
> 
>> 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.
> 
>>From what you say here, it seems to me that you're a relative
> newcomer. Before the Moldovan controversy, there was almost never any
> discussion about closing Wikis, given that the only 2 that have been
> closed so far are Toki Pona and Klingon.
> 
> I'm not sure what's wrong, though, with the fact that almost all of my
> posts are about languages -- is that a bad thing? Certainly, if you
> look at other posters, many of them tend to have areas of particular
> interest as well.

No, its not a bad thing, I was just trying to establish why I thought
you were not a developer (in case it turned out that you were).

> 
>> 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?
> 
> Who said I do consider it my job? Besides you, that is.

You appear to take an extremely keen interest in the closing / opening
of wikipedias, more so than the average poster on this list. I am just
worried about newcomers who are excited about creating a wikipedia
getting discouraged because someone, without the community's backing,
acted as though he had the power to approve or deny the request. This
came out extremely strongly in your last message to Manuel.

I am not saying that you should stop being interested in the creation
and destruction of wikipedias -- I am just worried about your style of
discussing them.