Mind you, the intention is good. Meta does need some categorizing, archiving, moving around etc. But meta is also sort of the Meatball of Wikimedia, a place where reflexion, project wide decisions and great debates happen. It has historical stuff dating back to the time where wiki was not even a concept to me, it has funny rants from different people, funky alliances and associations. In a word as in a thousand, meta is a mess, but it's precious. So cleaning it, yes, going on a deletion rampage without trying to understand the whys and the hows, no. But that is not my point.

The threads drifted to a more amazing idea. The idea that everything of interest and most inter-project stuff happens on the English Wikipedia. And that is where, if you will allow me, I am going to just laugh. It strikes me as highly uninformed to believe that outside of the English Wikipedia, nothing happens.

Historically, the English Wikipedia is the oldest. Numberly (that's probably not a word), the English Wikipedia is the biggest (reached one million articles not so long ago). So yes, the English Wikipedia is theoretically, the place where stuff happens. Except, well, it isn't. I live in Germany. I am thus aware of German Press on Wikipedia. Well, guess what. The English Wikipedia is never cited. Never. Ever. The German one is. I am French, I stay in touch with the French internet, blogosphere, news. The English Wikipedia is hardly ever cited. The French one is referred to, all the time. And that is true with most countries where stuff happens. In China, Hong-Kong and Taiwan, it's the Chinese Wikipedia, in Canada, it's the French or the English Wikipedia. In India, the Kannada Wikipedia is earning its place, among others. So please, let those who think that the English Wikipedia is the beginning and the end of everything open their eyes. There are other countries and languages out there. The world does not revolve around English and the English Wikipedia.

People blieve that the English Wikipedia is the best, because it has so many articles. Well, we all know that quantity does not make quality. True enough, there are a number of excellent articles on the English Wikipedia, and even better ones than on the other Wikipedias. But take a look at everything that has to do with linguistics on the French Wikipedia or the History of zoology and botanic. The French Wikipedia is way more advanced. And here I talk only of what I know. I am positive that there are other tings in other Wikipedias where the English just does not come close to the quality that can be found in other Wikipedias. I will give this, the English Wikipedia is way more advanced on anything related to wine, shame on the French. Now, this is about content, and frankly, I don't care which is the best Wikipedia. I wish all were at the same level in quality, and that his quality be high.

But let us turn to project stuff. And better, inter-project stuff. There is one thing I will agree too, is that most of the inter-project dicussions happen in English. Why? Well, this has to do, I suppose, with English being the smallest common denominator among languages spoken throughout the communities. But does that make the English Wikipedia the beginning and the end? No. It just means that those of us who try and work together with other Wikimedia populations make efforts to express ourselves in a language most understand. Which, in the end, gives us a disadvantage, on which we try not to linger. There are inter-projects initiatives, those happen mainly on meta, a good example is the translation of the week, a cross project initiative if there ever was one. But there are many other. Most of the organisational work happens on meta, such as the preparation of Wikimania, or the work of Wikimedia committees, the ground work for Wikimedia chapters or Wikiversity. At best, some of those projects are repercuted on the English Wikipedia, through users who participate in them. But they don't happen there.

So, let's put things back in their place. At the beginning, there was the English Wikipedia, and it was good. But following that, there were many Wikipedias, and many Wikimedia projects. And it was better.