[WikiEN-l] [[Ireland]] and [[China]]

[Daniel Mayer]

On Monday 09 December 2002 04:00 am, Ray Saintonge wrote:
> I don't dispute the factual correctness of Mav's statement (or his hard
> work and dedication), but I disagree with the conclusions that he draws
> from that statement.  I find him to prone to decide issues based on his
> genuflections to the Google God.  

Hm. With all due respect to you and your contributions, I take some issue with 
your oversimplified analysis of me and don't think such an analysis is really 
appropriate in the first place. I've stated on many occasions that Google is 
simply a tool to be used that can give an impression of usage when the most 
proper usage is in question. That data can then be used as one important 
external factor to help decide what we should be naming things. If and when a 
naming conflict arises or there is otherwise an ambiguity issue presented, 
then alternates need to be sought. 

>With deepest respect I see Mav as a
> dedicated simplifier who would very much like to see knowledge in neatly
> wrapped little packages; sometimes that means cutting off the sharp and
> thorny bits just to get the gift to fit into the package.  Once we get
> into that box it is more difficult to look out and see the other
> possibilities.

Also with the deepest respect, I think your oversimplication of me as a 
"dedicated simplifier" is a bit off the mark (yet does have a thin veneer of 
truth to it). For me, its not the knowledge itself but how that knowledge 
interelates with other knowledge and how everything fits together in a 
cohesive whole in order to make something superior to the sum of its parts 
(similar to the role of chemistry and physiology in creating the emergent 
property we call life). Granted, the use of the short forms of country names 
was a bit simplistic, but it fit into our established naming conventions and 
is also the form that most people would expect - thus its perceived overall 
usefulness for both readers and contributors won the day. 

This makes perfect sense until the fact that a modern nation like the PRC is 
not the same as the historical China. So, upon reflection, a more complicated 
system is needed for naming countries in order to bypass the ambiguity 
between the two different (yet related) entities and write on-topic articles. 
I in fact enjoy complex solutions so long as the result is logical, useful 
and is reasonably self-consistant with the minimum of exceptions. In short, I 
adhere to Einstein's call to make things as simple as possible, but no 
simpler. Note the "no simpler" part.

So I focus on many details at once and track how those many details might 
combine to form the big picture. Sometimes the detailed work leads to blind 
corners (or failed metabolic pathways) because I fail to take related details 
into account or fail to see their importance (or even their existence). This 
is what occurred with the China issue; I failed to compute the detail on what 
in fact was the best and most useful way for the article itself to present 
and organize its data since I overlooked the fact that the PRC and China are 
really separate entities.  

--Daniel Mayer (aka mav)

WikiKarma payment. Have you had your Wiki today?
http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Bacillus&diff=0&oldid=476532