[WikiEN-l] Lists which are sheer nonsense

[Jimmy Wales]

rednblack at alum.mit.edu wrote:
> At some point this has got to stop. Can we draw a line in the sand,
> here? The trash lists have got to go. If there's not a clear
> organizing reason for it, then it shouldn't exist.

Hmmm, I think this is not an easy question.  There are lists that we
should reject as being un-encyclopedic in one of the usual ways that
any article might be un-encyclopedic, for example "inherently POV" or
"too personal to be verifiable".

"List of Concerts Attended by Jimbo" --> too personal to be verifiable

"List of politicians who are bad people" --> inherently POV (and
probably of near-infinite length, ha ha)

But the list in question, well, what's the harm, exactly?  Too
trivial, maybe, but Wiki is not paper, there are no size-constraints.

When/if we get around to producing a "1.0" edited version for
distribution on paper/cd/etc., we'll need to be more selective about
what we're including.

--Jimbo