On Mon, Dec 09, 2002 at 10:55:35AM -0800, Jimmy Wales wrote:
If I start an
article about something controversial and I stick to
a bland NPOV stub, chances are it'll get ignored or only get minor
corrections and additions. If I start with a blatantly biased stub
which makes outrageous claims, you can almost guarantee one or more
gangs of people will become very interested in expanding the article.
I don't agree. This is a tempting idea, but I don't think the
empirical evidence supports it. What actually happens is that
contentious beginnings delay the proper expanasion of an article
because tempers are high.
Fair enough; you certainly have vastly more experience than me, and I'm
prepared to defer to that. I'd offer [[UK Firefighter strike 2002]] as
the most recent example of my point (although not a particularly
striking example), though.
--
jason(a)jasonandali.org.uk
http://www.jasonandali.org.uk/jason/