Proposals for closing projects/Closure of Romany wikipedia

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it.

This is a proposal for closing and/or deleting a wiki hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. It is subject to the current closing projects policy.

The proposal is accepted and the proposed actions should be taken.

Type: 2 (non-routine proposal)
Proposed outcome: elimination of Devanagari content
Proposed action regarding the content: Latin script content should remain
Notice on the project: [1]
Informed Group(s): —

Read before going on rampage:

I am listing this under proposals for closing wikipedias since there isn't a place for the specific issue to be addressed which would give this proposal the wide audience it needs.

This is not a proposal to close or delete an entire wikipedia — only half of it.

After going through the talkpages on Romany wikipedia, I found that the entire project had been more or less hijacked by Desiphral, a user who is now banned (at least on English wikipedia) and whose singular mission it was to propagate the idea that Romany should/must/ought to be written in Devanagari (Indic) script. While this idea might have its merits and whoever supports it is free to lobby for it elsewhere, wikipedia should not be te place where one can start such a campaign by simply imposing a "bi-scriptural" approach.

There is absolutely no indication that an Indic script has been, currently is, or will be used for Romany in the future; presenting this wikipedia in such a way is akin to a wishful thinking according to which German should be written in runes, or Apache should use Carrier-syllabics. The fact of the matter is that Apache is not written in syllabics, and the few people who use runes for German are hobbyists of often questionable political persuasions.

I therefore propose that the Devanagari-part of this wikipedia shall be deleted and all system-messages be reverted to the Latin-based orthography only.

Seb az86556 12:23, 12 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

For further supporting evidence: [2] you can find the opinion there of Ian Hancock, a Roma linguist and probably the world's foremost expert on Romani linguistics. --Node ue 16:24, 26 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Support[edit]

Of course, it's high time.--U.Steele 14:30, 13 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Absolutely. I have been in favor of such a move for a long time, I just didn't think there was a way to make it happen since small wikis are often like local fiefdoms - stewards and the Foundation often preach "local control" and local resolution of disputes, but when there is only one active admin who is causing the problems (and thus that one crazy admin IS the "local control"), what can be done? What if, as you suggested, we did have a Western Apache Wikipedia, and the only admin was a crazy hobbyist who insisted on everything being dual script with Carrier syllabics (used for a related language in Canada, but never used for Apache and totally unfamiliar to probably 100% of Apache speakers)? There doesn't seem to be an easy process for others, even native speakers of the language, to dislodge such deranged individuals from entrenched positions of power, unless they can gather together a dozen other native speakers or so to support them, which is often impractical for speakers of minority or local languages. --Node ue 16:18, 26 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I've studied French, Spanish, Italian, German. But never heard about Romany language.--俠刀行 22:18, 11 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
- [facepalm] That — is not a reason. Seb az86556 00:18, 12 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  - Hahaha... hahaha... wow. --Node ue 20:13, 12 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
    - Romani is a language of gypsies (Captain Obvious)--U.Steele (talk) 19:18, 17 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose[edit]

*I've studied French, Spanish, Italian, German. But never heard about Romany language.--俠刀行 22:14, 11 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Comments[edit]

Rather than outright deleting, would changing the Devanagari script to a latin- or cyrillic-based orthography be feasible?--Terfili 10:06, 14 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
- Most of the devanagari content is a duplication of the Latin-stuff (so nothing will be lost). Seb az86556 11:47, 14 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Why not transwiki the devanagari content to Wikiversity ? We're cool with original research, and while it's clear that an Indic script isn't used for Romani, it might be interesting to have the content or a sample of it available for anyone who'd like to read it. --Claritas 18:13, 15 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
- You're free to copy it as long as it's still there Seb az86556 18:18, 15 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

As this is not within the scope of the language committee, this should be handled by community consensus, and it seems obvious that the Devanagari part should be removed or moved to somewhere else. SPQRobin (talk) 21:26, 16 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Done Has been implemented. Seb az86556 (talk) 22:39, 17 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it.