Thursday, April 26, 2007

How the Wiktionary interwiki bot is running

In a previous blog about Wiktionary quality issues, in a mail to the Wiktionary mailing list and a post on the English language bear parlour, I informed of the Polish Wiktionaries request / demand not to include the Russian and Vietnamese Wiktionary in the interwiki link.

The general reaction is that the Polish can wish what they want and that I should be willing to accommodate them. It is however not a zero sum game. Whatever I do, it has repercussions and it is in the end for me to make the choice that fits me, as the runner of the bot, best.

I have talked with Andre Engels about this. The result is that I will not update the Polish Wiktionary any more. All other Wiktionaries will still be updated with information with information about all Wiktionaries including the Polish.

I really dislike this situation. The good news is that the Vietnames Wiktionary is aware of this problem and is working on a solution, they just need time. The Russian Wiktionary is in my opinion a wasteland that is not really inviting to work on. Then again it is stubs on a grand scale.. people are working on it though. The Polish .. I am sorry that they feel this way. I do think that this only isolates them and that isolation is the major weakness of the Wiktionary projects.

Thanks,
GerardM

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