> We have a mailing list where anyone can write to and arguments are heard.
So effectively you are part of what we do.

Not entirely. The page https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Language_committee
writes explicitly:* "Non-members should generally not participate in
discussions. When it is necessary however, they can send a mail which a
list administrator will need to accept manually."* Not that I mind being
moderated, but to put it bluntly, writing a message feels pretty much like
being an intruder.

> The language committee was created to say "no".

Hm, perhaps I am wrong, but isn't the language committee also there to say
"yes" every once in a while? Mind, I can follow your logic. If one member
saying "no" means the whole committee says "no", it makes sense to limit
the number of members to a bare minimum, because otherwise saying "no" is
likely to become all the committee will ever do. I agree that for normal
issues a majority vote would be a much better solution. While I agree with
Amir that voting is not the solution for all problems, giving each
individual member the right to veto any progress is a solution even worse.

Besides, I read that a quite a few members are completely inactive, which
shouldn't come as a surprise if you consider that members are basically
appointed for life. Given the fact that (except for Satdeep Gill) not a
single new member has been added since 2012, I thought it might be a good
idea to change that. That's why I am offering my expertise and help in
speeding things up.

Cheers,
Jan



2017-02-07 7:46 GMT+01:00 Gerard Meijssen <[email protected]>:

> Hoi,
> As it is we have a policy whereby anyone can say "no" and it is no. We
> have a mailing list where anyone can write to and arguments are heard. So
> effectively you are part of what we do.
>
> The language committee was created to say "no". This has proven to be
> effective. From the later projects there are fewer failures. As such the
> language works as designed.
>
> While some may think that I am obstinate about the GRC issue, the same
> opinion I have about proposals that I made. That is however how the cookie
> crumbles.
>
> So YES, I value your input and NO I think we should not add another person
> that is enabled to say no.
>
> It is not personal. Quite the contrary however, when we are to change the
> policy we should overhaul it properly and discuss all the issues we face
> with the current policy.
> Thanks,
>      GerardM
>
> On 7 February 2017 at 01:48, Jan van Steenbergen <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>> > Also, unlike a decade ago, LangCom has expert legitimacy and integrity
>> > now, as well as a decade of experience. That's the reason why I don't
>> > think that any group would use majority as a tool to push unreasonable
>> > decisions.
>>
>> Speaking of which... Would it be possible for me to apply for membership
>> of the Langcom? I've been following the discussions on this mailing list
>> for about two years now, and I hope I might be helpful to you.
>>
>> A short introduction:
>>
>> My name is Jan van Steenbergen, I'm 46 years old and I live in IJmuiden,
>> the Netherlands. I work as a professional translator and interpreter Polish
>> <> Dutch. Linguistics is both my work and my hobby. My main fields of
>> interest are Slavic languages, constructed languages, Cyrillic and Eastern
>> Europe. My "language package" can be found on my user page:
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:IJzeren_Jan (mind, the languages
>> listed there are those that I have actually learned to some degree – there
>> are dozens of other languages I can understand, or know the basics of).
>>
>> I've been editing Wikipedia sporadically since 2003 as an anonymous user,
>> and have been more active after I created my first user account in 2004. My
>> home wiki is nlwiki, where I am currently an admin. I've been editing
>> several other language versions as well, but less frequently.
>>
>> As I already explained in my post about Lingua Franca Nova, when it comes
>> to the question whether a language should be allowed to have its own wiki
>> or not, my primary criterion would be viability/sustainability. In other
>> words, does a potential project have good perspectives for success?
>> Obviously, a large community of native speakers is a good thing to start
>> with, but if a language has 50 mln. speakers and there is nobody willing to
>> work on a wiki, then the project is doomed to become a failure anyway. What
>> we surely want to avoid is dead wikis where practically every article is
>> just three or four words. On the other hand, if a language has no native
>> speakers at all, yet it is still able to generate a prospering wiki, then I
>> am all for it. Even a wiki in a language without native speakers can become
>> a success, provided that the language is well-documented, stable and
>> complete, and provided that there are enough people willing to work on it.
>> As far as I am concerned, if a language is doing well in the Incubator for
>> a longer period, that means it has passed the exam.
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Jan van Steenbergen
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Langcom mailing list
>> [email protected]
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/langcom
>>
>>
>
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>
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