I see both extremes as very BAD. Ferries may not appear notable to a random individual, but if they're the longest running one on a certain route, no one will doubt it needs inclusion. Animals, cities, scientists, and historical events are covered in regular encyclopedias, so we need to cover them too.
I see no reason any given field needs an *arbitrary* cutoff for the sake of having a cutoff. If we can achieve actual completeness in some area (e.g. articles on US towns), why the hell shouldn't we?
When people fight for the inclusion of websites and webcomics (for example) it's more of a vanity issue. It may be verifiable and presented in an NPOV manner, but the fact they're trying to get a comic/site with a tiny audience into a general purpose encyclopedia is POV too, an attempt at promotion.
Surely third-party verifiability takes care of this one. If someone else cares to write something verifiable about it, it should get in.
- d.