Category talk:Legislation in Africa

Hi,

I'm Mika from Madagascar. Got here from Louis Rossman's youtube videos. I'm new to this wiki / contributing thing, and would like to ask a few question before doing anything wrong :D

1- i would like to add the legislation document of my country (Madagascar) concerning consumer protection, available here https://www.assemblee-nationale.mg/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Loi-n%C2%B02015-014-sur-la-garantie-et-la-protection-du-consommateur.pdf but i don't know if i should just put the link, re-copy the content, or by other mean?

2- as the document is in French (2nd official language but main language for administrative documents in Madagascar), if i copy the document, i don't know if i should translate it in english or keep it in french? And if i need to translate it, how do i do that without the risk of altering the content (i don't trust google or AI translate to keep a legitimately similar content, and i can't afford to hire a professional translator).

3- how else can i contribute? There are definitely shady practices with the local industries / enterprises / service providers here, and again, i don't want to just spread rumours or point randomly to said practices. What's the best way to get those kind of informations?

Thank you for the good work and waking people from this consumerism slumber. Also, sorry if my english is a bit clumsy, not my native language, and i didn't want chatGpt to write it for me :D

Mika.

Response to Mika

Hi Mika, great to see you here! @Mikadago

The first thing to mention quickly is that the category pages are not for adding content to - they simply act as a directory that links together mainspace articles on the wiki. So if you wanted to add information, you wouldn't do it here, instead you'd make an article (probably using the blank template as we don't have a template for this kind of thing yet) called 'consumer protection legislation in madagascar', or something like that. It would be best to write it as an explainer, rather than simply quoting the text of the law. You can take inspiration from articles on Wikipedia about laws, such as this page on the US constitution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_States. Obviously that's a very long and detailed article, but the main point is that it does not just quote the law, it is primarily focused on explaining the background and effects of the law.

Regarding sources, it's best to leave them in their original language, and just link to them. The text in the Wiki article should all be English, and should basically just present the information found in original sources. In terms of laws, editors should not do their own legal interpretation. What this means is that instead of linking to the law and saying 'these practices are allowed, these ones aren't', it is best practice to link to a legal scholar's interpretation of the law when saying what the law does and does not allow, as then the reader can verify that someone with the relevant expertise has interpreted the law, rather than the editor of the article.

When contributing, it's probably best to start off with those shady practices that have been documented by journalists and covered extensively, as these will be the best sourced, and you'll be able to make good, fleshed out articles. Reporting on obscure or unknown issues is more difficult, as we don't allow for primary research by contributors - contributors must be referencing a source.

In any case, thank you very much for coming along and offering to contribute, and I hope to see you around! Keith (talk) 15:54, 16 August 2025 (UTC)