Kat Walsh wrote:
On 11/9/06, Phil Sandifer Snowspinner@gmail.com wrote:
The question then becomes how we can help editors who want to write good articles on these topics (and there are many) without letting articles like this one run amok. The answer has, it seems to me, manifestly shown itself NOT to be draconian sourcing policy that defies the common sense of anyone familiar with the topic and aggressive deletion.
The vast majority of these topics I think would be better suited for a merge. As for Ms. Mateo, for example, I don't see why it wouldn't be more appropriate to say whatever there is to say about her in the Phillipine Idol article. (Should it get too large, Phillippine Idol contestants or something similar.) If nothing else it brings it to a wider audience of those who are interested in the show, and so may have seen her in her only really notable act, rather than those interested only in her specifically -- probably a much smaller group. It also gives the information context to start from, which is useful for minor topics and even more beneficial for fictional subjects.
I have no objection to merging the stubbish material in the article about Ms. Mateo; it even appears that some of the other competitors for Philippine Idol have already been merged. When there is enough material on these contestants their articles can be split off again as has been the case with American Idol or Canadian Idol. (I haven't looked at what's happening with the other national versions.) This discussion has ranged into far more involving notions of copyvios, verifiability and notability. Can we apply the same strict standards to a Philippino writing about an issue of strictly Philippine interest as we would to an American, Canadian, Briton or Australian writing about his own country? Do we have a critical mass of editors from that country to fill in the holes, or to check facts, or to resolve possible copyvios? Those of us who edit from advanced industrial countries didn't arrive at these rules overnight, and we did so in a context where intellectual resources are plentiful.
When judging contributions we need to do so in the context of the affected country with the recognition that contributors from that country need to evolve their skills just as those of us in the developed countries have had to. This may imply less rigid sourcing rules for editors from some countries.
Ec