I think that at least a consistent listing of both names is needed, expecially on the links. I have had to fight with simple unwillingness to list both names in serbian and albanian on all things.
On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 4:48 PM, Fred Bauder <fredb...@fairpoint.net> wrote: > > Hi there, I have seen a big problem in getting people to contribute in > > kosovo to wikipedia > > except the Kosovo article, there they dont call in *Kosovo and > > Metohija*i, > > so I think there is a president for the english and albanian names in > > wikipedia. > > most of the names are in serbian, with strange characters that I cannot > > even > > type. > > this offends most contributors and prevents locals from contributing. > > also the serbs erase all albanian names from the referring links so I > > cannot > > even find what I am looking for. > > I would like to start to rename the articles to the albanian english > > spellings with normal typiable characters. Ideally we would use the > > albanian > > names and encourage the locals to edit. Right now there is a minority > > serb > > group that is making life unpleasant for the local contributors. > > see > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gjeravica > > > > can someone guide me on this. > > thanks, > > mike > > > > -- > > James Michael DuPont > > Member of Free Libre Open Source Software Kosova and Albania flossk.org > > flossal.org > > My advice is to take it easy. We have had this dispute in other areas of > the world, notably in the case of place names in Poland, most of which > was under German control at some point and has a German name for nearly > every possible location. Gdansk, Danzig, was a particular problem. I > don't remember exactly how that was resolved, but I do remember all the > fireworks. > > Start by creating redirects from all Albanian names to the existing > articles if they are in Serbian, and vice-versa. Here's a tip, even if > you can't type something, you can always copy and paste it, for example: > Đeravica (Albanian: Gjeravica; Serbian Cyrillic: > Ђеравица). I don't know > that a redirect from > Ђеравица would be > necessary. That way every one can find their way around. > > I see an unsigned note on the talk page of Đeravica: > > Main reason to change, authors > > Listen, let me present you with the biggest reason to change the name, > the local people are offended with the serbian names. They live there, > and they feel that wikipedia is biased to serbia. This is a major reason > not to contribute to wikipedia. It has been a big problem all the time. > The few vocal serbs who are pushing to keep the old name dont even live > there and cannot contribute much. the people who do live there and can > write are being excluded. > > 12:45, 9 November 2010 (UTC) > > This is a familiar story to me, a lot of new people have moved to where I > live and find even the name of a prominent mountain "offensive", see > http://www.14ers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=27964 I, of course, find > them offensive. That said, Wikipedia, while a bit safer than armed > combat, is not a battleground and there is little patience for edit > warring. As far as prejudice, I'm pretty sure some Serbians feel > Wikipedia is biased against them, and there may be a little truth in > that. They have a poor public image. > > Wikipedia administrators will not put up with sustained ethnically-based > edit warring. However, any one place will have one name under our > conventions. How to decide? My intuitive idea is to tolerate Serbian > names for places that figure prominently in Serbian history, for example > the names of Serbian monasteries, palaces, forts, or battlefields, but > use Albanian for place names that now are predominately Albanian. There > is no Kosovo section at Wikipedia:Naming conventions (geographic names) > but that is where to set some guidelines after discussion with involved > editors. > > In the case of Poland the discussion was extensive and guidelines are at > Wikipedia:Manual of Style (Poland-related articles) That is the sort of > resolution to work towards. > > So, talk, as you are, on talk pages; be patient; realize the other side > also feels put upon and ask for help when you hit rough spots. Imposing a > rule from above would be paternalistic and oppressive and it would be > good if it could be avoided. > > Fred Bauder > > > _______________________________________________ > foundation-l mailing list > foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l > -- James Michael DuPont Member of Free Libre Open Source Software Kosova and Albania flossk.org flossal.org _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
