[Wikipedia-l] anglicization is stupid

Wed Nov 20 20:42:22 UTC 2002

Toby Bartels wrote:

>Lir wrote:
>
>>we should refer to spacecraft from the USSR according to their Russian name-not
>>according to the English name.
>>
>As it happens, Lir, I agree with you.  English corruptions suck.
>But the Wikipedia standard for a rather long time
>(as long as *I*'ve been here, at any rate)
>has been to use the most common name used in English.
>Now, if you want to change that, then this is the place
>to make your arguments.  But if you just move articles now,
>then you're only going to make people mad at you.
>You *first* have to convince the rest of them to agree with you,
>and *then* you and I (and anybody else that cares about it)
>can start moving articles over to their new names.
>
Count me among the people who care about it.  Even if we get a broad 
understanding on this the forces of dumbing down will continue to give 
us flak.

>This might, of course, never happen.
>You might never manage to convince the other people.
>If I had to guess, I'd guess that it will never happen,
>although I might be wrong, so you should present your arguments.
>But please don't try to force your opinion on Wikipedia now.
>People will just change it back, and they'll start to hate you,
>and then they'll ban you (some are trying to do this already),
>and then you won't be able to do anything on Wikipedia ever again.
>*I* don't think that that would be a very good outcome.
>We all need to work *together*, and that means compromises sometimes.
>
Regretably, though I have noted Lir's efforts to address some of the 
complaints about her eccentric usages, some others are not so forgiving. 
 I just find that she has a wicked sense of humour, and that is very 
hard on those who take themselves too seriously.  People who take 
themselves too seriously often lead campaigns "to preserve our bodily 
humors".

>PS:  Have you signed up for the new English mailing list <wikiEN-l>?
>     You can go to <http://www.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l>
>     if you want to subscribe to it; else you might miss some responses.
>
Another mailing list!!!!!!!  I'm already getting 100 e-mails a day. 
 Should I want more?

Eclecticology