The case is made often that descriptions as they exist are evil. They are atrocious and for whatever reason it does not make a difference that a much better solution exists. It was discussed at the London Wikimania and it seems as if people have a religious belief that people will do better.

Automated descriptions can easily be improved upon in two ways all the time every time by

• improving the algorithm for automated description
  
• improving the algorithm for automated descriptions by considering language specific issues
• improving the result of the algorithm by adding statements where they are lacking on items
  

I have blogged about this issue in the past. The arguments against the current crop of descriptions is convincing. Why do we not get rid of all that rubbish. The only argument I know that has some merit is that people invested time in them. The sad thing is it was as waste because the results are not good, they are not convincing and they will never support all 280+ languages Wikidata supports.

Thanks,

     GerardM