Hoi,
We do say "yes" occasionally and while we were created to stop a flood we
are happy to say this happens. The policy says what it does. The fact is
that when people write thoughtful stuff, they are welcome to write so Jan,
happy to have seen and read your thoughts.
There are people who want to change the policy.. As long as it is in a
comprehensive way I do not mind but when it is only to change our voting
ways I object. It does not make sense to do that; it should be part of
something larger. It will also be something where the board has to give its
approval.
Thanks,
GerardM
On 7 February 2017 at 18:57, Jan van Steenbergen <[email protected]>
wrote:
> > 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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