Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] Compendium
So, to try to avoid the constant posturing for a
while, how does this help us to navigate the different
understandings of what should and should not go in?
Are you in favour or against schools, for example? I
can't really tell from your message.
1) That wasn't the purpose of the message. Someone had used the phrase
"compendium of human knowledge" as if it meant "everything." I was
pointing out that the word "compedium" implies _selection._ And I was
pointing out that, while acknowledging Wikipedia is _different_ from
other encyclopedias, the word _encyclopedia_ does imply an emphasis on
certain kinds of "knowledge" over others.
2) If you frame the question in the form "are you in favor of or
against schools" you would not be able to understand any answer I could
give. Watch my behavior in VfD and make your own deductions.
It would seem that your definition would exclude many
RamBot articles?
I'm a pragmatist. I don't think the Rambot articles on towns were a
good idea, but I accept them as a fait accompli. No, I do not think
they fall within even a loose definition of an encyclopedia. They are
database tabular data that's been gussied up into pseudo-English.
They're here. I'm not going to use any of my own psychic energy on a
crusade to get rid of them. If someone else tries to get rid of them, I
won't waste any of my own psychic energy trying to stop them. I believe
these feelings of mine are fairly widely shared, by the way.
The thing I hate most about the Rambot articles is people citing them
as precedent for putting in other stuff that shouldn't go into
Wikipedia.
--
Daniel P. B. Smith, dpbsmith(a)verizon.net
"Elinor Goulding Smith's Great Big Messy Book" is now back in print!
Sample chapter at
http://world.std.com/~dpbsmith/messy.html
Buy it at
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1403314063/