Closing #wikimedia projects (rant)

Proposals for closure I hate probably the most. They go on for forever, are often requested anonymously and to top it off, there is no clean procedure for finishing of projects because it is not implemented.

When a project is closed, it should be removed. It should not be in the statistics, it should be removed from the Internet. When we actually hope for it to restart at some stage, it should go to the Incubator.

These are the smallest Wikipedias in the traffic statistics. Most of these are closed. They give a bad impression because there is not much you can do once they are "write protected". There is not even a procedure to lift the closure...

The worst part of the continuous bitching is that some anonymous cowards find it in themselves to propose the closure of projects like the Swahili Wikipedia. Such insane proposals are taken seriously and they create a lot of unnecessary stress. In my opinion this is trolling pure and simple and should be dealt with accordingly.

If closure is to be considered in the first place, I would suggest that no activity for over three months would be a requirement and, that new activity resets the clock. It would also be good to define additional limits that prevent a closure request to be considered.. to mind come the finished localisation of the "most used" messages and 1000 articles for a Wikipedia.

I write this rant because people who are working towards activating our projects get really distressed and disheartened. Most of us truly want all our projects to grow and do well and the last thing we want is for the people to move on who have an interest in these projects.
Thanks,
GerardM

An anonymous coward asks for a Wikipedia to be closed

On Meta, an anonymous coward started a proposal for the deletion of a Wikipedia. I was asked for my opinion. I hate it when people think they start something controversial like the closure of a Wikipedia anonymously. In my opinion such a person deserves to be banned globally for at least a week or alternatively find a special place in hell.

There have been many such requests and I will not take them seriously. These cowards are not man enough to argue their case. Consequently I feel that we should close them on principle. I am really happy that Spacebirdy is a person who thinks like me in these terms. I am really happy with her closing this proposal.

Now if someone wants to close a project like the "Tarantino" Wikipedia, there may be all kinds of good reasons for it. I do not mind this discussion but these requests are highly political and it is extremely painful when such a request is made for your language. Anonimity is just not acceptable.
Thanks,
GerardM

Ndonga and Dzongkha

Ndonga and Dzongkha are two languages. One is from Africa the other from Asia. Both still have a Wikipedia, one is officially closed the other is in the process of being closed. The dz.wikipedia is officially closed but has not been closed. The localisation effort is well under way and currently 78.12% of the most used messages have been localised. The ng.wikipedia has eight articles has no localisation and the usual people object to the closure of this project. On the talk page of Drini I found an anonymous coward indicating that something may be done soon ....

When projects are voted to be closed, they are not closed. This means that people like Drini have to continue their fight against spammers. There are two parts to the problem as I see it.

• When the time of stewards like Drini is free and infinite and when they do not object to doing this work there seems to be no problem. We should however value the time of people like him and make sure that it is used sparingly and well
• When policies lead to resolutions and these resolutions have no effect, what is the point of having these policies, these resolutions and all the time spend?

When policies have no effect, when nobody cares either the policies are wrong or we have to do a cost benefit analysis of the policies. When we find that the cost of having dead projects is less then the cost of blocking these projects we should abandon the policy for closing projects.
Thanks,
GerardM

PS I do not think it wise to close the Dzongkha wikipedia at this time.