[Wikipedia-l] Inquiry

[Lars Aronsson]

Lawrence Nyveen wrote:

> http://legadoassociates.com/wikipedi.htm

Near the beginning, the article says:

> Its success has attracted harsh criticism from predictable 
> quarters. In an article published recently on 
> TechCentralStation.com, Robert McHenry, former Editor-in-Chief 
> of Encyclopedia Britannica disdainfully said that using 
> Wikipedia was like visiting a public restroom.

Yes, McHenry did write this.  No, it did not come from 
"predictable quarters".  What this article's author (and most 
people) seem to miss is that McHenry is a *former* Britannica 
editor-in-chief, who is *no longer* speaking for the old 
encyclopedias.  Born in 1945, [[Robert McHenry]] left Britannica 
in 1997 at age 52, hardly an old age retiree.  He has left that 
building, for whatever reason, and is not likely to return. He is 
now "out in the cold", free to write whatever he thinks.

The people currently working for established encyclopedias should 
probably feel a threat from Wikipedia, but they are the least 
likely to comment on its existence.  If you have an enemy, you 
fight him, you don't smalltalk.  But I think McHenry's article was 
an attempt to smalltalk the Wikipedia community.  His critique of 
the [[Alexander Hamilton]] article was an all too obvious 
give-away that only proved Wikipedia's willingness to improve.
Current Britannica employees would not help Wikipedia like that.

Larry Sanger is a similar but opposite out-in-the-cold case.  If 
Sanger wrote a critique of paper encyclopedias, would you quote 
him as someone representing Wikipedia?  Of course not.


-- 
  Lars Aronsson (lars at aronsson.se)
  Aronsson Datateknik - http://aronsson.se