On 7/25/06, Stephen Bain stephen.bain@gmail.com wrote:
Indeed, and in a similar vein, there was the cogent observation that the first person to an article has the greatest opportunity to shape its tone, form and structure.
I didn't agree with that. Maybe he meant the first "major contributor" or something. I write a lot of stubs, and I doubt the two lines I contribute have a big effect on much down the track.
Oh, I even have an example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Long_%28climber%29
My original contribution was "John Long is a rock climber and author. His best known books are the "How to climb" series."
Now, the first sentence has become "John Long (Born 1953) is a well-known American rock climber and author." There are then two paragraphs before "A prolific author, Long's best known books are the "How to Climb" series."
I also note that a specific book by his I mentioned has been removed.
Have I shaped it much? I'm not sure - I'd intended for a complete list of his books to make part of the article, and that idea has been killed. In fact, I was really intending the article to be about him as an author. Instead, the bulk of the article is now about his rock climbing feats. And hey, it's even picked up some references.
YMMV.
Steve