On Wed, Mar 05, 2003 at 06:14:25PM -0500, rednblack@alum.mit.edu wrote:
Okay. People are actively editing [[List of songs whose title does not appear in their lyrics]]. Four or five people have assured me I am a rotten git for daring to question the necessity of this article, but I can't help it. I think the fact that people created, discussed, and edited this article is just wrong.
Your arguments are IMO correct: such lists are useless, don't belong in an encyclopedia, lead to endless pointless discussions about what belongs on the list and how it should be structured, set a bad example and lower the standards. However, they are also easy to make, fun to do, tempt newbies into participating with a small easy addition, and every now an then introduce stubs that lead to full-blown articles. I would say that the latter arguments outweigh the first arguments because the main reason that Wikipedia works is its community. Let's not forget that it is the spare time of countless volunteers that makes Wikipedia tick. If such lists help to maintain and expand that community (with the right people), and I think they do, then we should cherish them.
-- Jan Hidders
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