Should stub languages be enabled?

Post by **imslp** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 10:28 pm

I've enabled the use of all the language translations of the MediaWiki site skin, regardless of whether any of the IMSLP pages are actually translated in that language. However, if necessary I can make it so that only languages which have actual page translations (i.e. the 6 translations currently) will be autodetected, and everything else defaults to English.

My rationale for my original decision is that even if no pages have been translated in that particular language, it will make navigating IMSLP easier. However, I do not know how other people feel about this.

So... select away

Post by **Funper** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:26 am

It dosen't make navigation easier.. it's dull and useless and annoying! Especially annoying!

Post by **Peter** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:45 am

Funper, if your plan is to start a flame war, don't bother.
But if you have reasonable arguments we can discuss, please feel free to throw them up.
Thank you.

Post by **Funper** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:46 am

Uhhh.... Please refer to the the main-page discussion...

But it is really confusing to have your own language as navigator and English in anything else, and it IS simply annoying. It isn't at all easy to navigate the site with two different languages.

Post by **imslp** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 1:16 am

Calm down people... I think Funper is half joking, so we should all relax.

Peter, I know you were offended by Funper's first comments on the talk page of the main page. It might be a misunderstanding, as Funper's complaint seems to be about the "stub" languages (i.e. languages which have no page translation, only skin translation).

And Funper, next time make your comments more clear especially when it might be interpreted as insulting.

Post by **Leonard Vertighel** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:19 am

Yes, yes, I also want a flame war!

No, wait, what was the question?

Yes, I am in favour of "stub languages". I think it might motivate people to translate into more languages - feels like you are not starting from scratch. I understand Funpers concerns, but personally I think one gets used to it quickly...

Post by **Funper** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 5:36 pm

I don't think that imslp's main strive is to motivate people into translating wikipages. Please remove the stub languages because it is repulsive, and it draws visitors attention away.

Post by **Leonard Vertighel** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 6:09 pm

Obviously you are right that this is not IMSLP's main strive. But its main strive is to provide music scores to as many people as possible. As a corollary, it must be translated into as many languages as possible, since not everybody has a sufficient command of the English language.

Post by **Funper** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:31 pm

yeahyeahyeah, but some wiki-stublanguage isn't going to attract any foreign visitors.

Post by **imslp** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 12:31 am

Let's just let the poll decide lol

After all, this isn't a perfect world, and we all have to live with compromises unfortunately...

emeraldimp · Post by **emeraldimp** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 12:33 am

Funper wrote:yeahyeahyeah, but some wiki-stublanguage isn't going to attract any foreign visitors.

The other day, I signed up for an account on the french wikipedia, so that I could non-anonymously post Feldmahler's reply. Although I have a decent grasp of french, and am rather familiar with the mediawiki interface (IMSLP, Wikipedia, plus a couple that I run myself), I found it very helpful to have the navigation in english, even if the rest was in french.

Now, I'm all for this being a truly international website, and I think that, for the most part, most of any particular entry is OK (catalog numbers, for example), so I don't know how much use having every single page translated would be, but I think the proress that's been made with the main pages is fantastic.

As for attracting foreign visitors, no, it won't do anything. Anyone that comes is coming for the music, not for the articles (this ain't no wikipedia). However, it _is_ helpful to have alternate languages available so that people can _participate_, not only in the discussion but also in the collection of the music.