User:Shanel/Langcom n00b guide

Congratulations on becoming a new Langcom member. But wait, what exactly is langcom? And what are you, a lowly n00b, supposed to do? Well, this guide will help you, the n00b, learn the ins and outs of langcom.

What is langcom? edit

Langcom (short for Language subcommittee), is a group of people dedicated to overseeing the creation of projects is various languages. In ye olden days, creation of a new language project usually involved poking a dev or a board member.

Cool. But what am I supposed to do? edit

First, you should probably acquaint yourself with the language proposal policy, which outlines the requirements for any new language project. The policy has gone through some major changes since it was first written; as a result, requests opened before the reform have been closed, with the option of reopening them using the current system. Most of your work will involve requests for new languages. When looking at a language request, there are several things to consider:

  1. Is the language a valid linguistic entity? Requests for most conlangs, fictional languages, and nonsense requests can be rejected immediately.
  2. Is there any political motivation for this request? You should be careful with this, but the goal of the Wikimedia foundation is to facilitate the sharing of knowledge, not to take sides in political disputes. People requesting a new language project to escape the community of wiki x who oppress them , for example, should be encouraged to work with them instead.
  3. Does the language have a valid ISO or 47 code? This is actually a source of disagreement on the committee (see below), but a language must have one of these in order for a wiki to be created.
  4. Is there an interested community? There is no point in creating a new language project if there is nobody to edit it.
  5. Have supporting or opposing arguments been provided? Per the Language proposal policy, simple votes are ignored.
  6. Does the project already exist? Probably a no-brainer, but the requester should be directed to the existing project in this case.
  7. Is this language request sufficiently different from an existing language project? What constitutes “sufficiently different” is sometimes a matter of opinion, but if two languages or dialects differ only slightly, in ways that do not render then unintelligible with each other , then they should probably be on the same wiki. The same is true for different writing systems. Things are not always cut and dry when it comes to languages, so just use your best judgement

How do I approve or reject a language request edit

Before you do anything, tell us about it on the mailing list. Tell us the name of the proposed project, what course of action you think we should take, and why. If nobody objects, you may implement the decisions after around 72 hours or so (double check on the mailing list if you want to be sure). If we’ve reached a consensus of some kind, or nobody has voiced any opposition, you can then edit the request itself. Requests are located on their own subpages, but you can edit them from the main page. To reject a project, use {{ls-header|rejected|your reason here ~~~~}}. To conditionally approve a request, use {{ls-header|conditional|your reason here ~~~~}}. To give a project final approval, use {{ls-header|approved your reason here ~~~~}}.

Any other things to keep in mind? edit

The most important thing to remember is that your opinion is valued and welcome. You are probably not going to say something stupid.

Is there anything we don’t agree on? edit

Yes, from time to time members will disagree on things. This is to be expected; after all, it would not be much of a committee if we all thought the same way! We also differ on several points of the handling of new requests; for example, GerardM and Berto are in favour of controlling access to the Incubator.

Will langcom help me get a girlfriend/boyfriend/pony? edit

No it will not. You will be too busy dealing with new language project requests to have time for a social life.