On 10/24/05, Anthony DiPierro wikispam@inbox.org wrote:
Let me expand on why that equation is bullshit. Effort is not a constant, and the more articles you have, the more contributors you'll have, and the more effort you'll have.
I think the term you are looking for is over simplifed modle. I know this is the case (Ew is a compersite of at least three terms). I could go go through with more complex models but the result is the same. Beyond a certian number of articles the law of diminishing returns kicks in and the average article quality starts to fall.
Also, not all effort is equal, nor does it have an equal effect on quality. In fact, some of the worst quality articles happen to be the articles which have the most editors, and the most effort, spent on them.
Prove it.
Keeping around a short factual article about an obscure topic is not going to bring the average quality of the encyclopedia down. In fact, a short article on an obscure topic is easy to make into a high quality short article on an obscure topic, and will therefore bring the average quality of the encyclopedia up.
However such articles don't seem to turn up at AFD much and even these articles require mentanence.
-- geni