On 5/4/07, Bryan Derksen bryan.derksen@shaw.ca wrote:
I think what we've done is make up our own system that happens to be based closely on existing taxonomy, with modifications that make it more convenient for its function of grouping encyclopedia articles. Why can't we do this? It's already widely implemented.
Then we ought to immediately stop misleading users of Wikipedia in all of our text on organisms.
"The family *Asteraceae* or, alternatively, *Compositae*, known as the * aster*, *daisy* or *sunflower family*, is a taxon of dicotyledonoushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dicot flowering plants http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowering_plant. "
This means something very specific in taxonomy, what is being discussed in this leading sentence. If it doesn't, then we ought not to be using the language of taxonomy, or we ought to remove the taxa names from the categories. In essence, you're saying, we can use words that mean one thing as our category titles to mean something completely different. Why not make up completely different words, just as we've made up completely different categories, if that's what you're saying we do? I don't think that is what is happenning at Wikipedia in categories, though.
And we also ought to consider what we're writing articles about if we're not grouping organisms according to taxonomies.
Right now, on Wikipedia, these categories are used to mean the names as defined by that particular classification. When a name applies to multiple classifications these are listed in the article. The category names don't mean something entirely new and different from how they are used in their classification schemes. If this was the intention for categorization, then it should have been clarified all along, and each category should be strictly defined to tell editors precisely what it means on Wikipedia, indicating clearly that it does not mean anything one can get from a dictionary.
The category "Asteraceae" includes members of the Asteraceae, lists of Asteraceae, probably tribes of Asteraceae. What exactly did Wikipedia make up about Category Asteraceae? Or any of the organism categories? They're all from established taxonomies.
KP