On Thu, 30 Oct 2003, tarquin wrote:
They are both ephemeral. Children are abducted all over the world. Just because the US media gave it so much coverage does not make it worthy of inclusion in an encyclopedia which should be taking the long-term view.
Then when nobody knows who the hell these people were any more, we can remove it. Meanwhile, these are things that people might want to find.
I suspect that a dislike of media sensationalism is as much behind a drive to remove articles like this as anything else. Media sensationalism, though, is a fact, and it DOES change peoples' perceptions including what is considered important.
Not all media sensations are ephemeral. People still obsess about Jack the Ripper, for example. I submit that trying to determine NOW what will be still worthy of note in fifty or a hundred years' time is impossible.
-Matt