On 16/01/2009, brewhaha%40edmc.net brewhaha@edmc.net wrote:
In this matter of choice, I avoid jeneral terms when I can. For example, I rarely write "algae", because that could refer to moss that has a solid substrate or dissolved phytoplankton. The practical difference is that plankton can grow (and consume oxygen in decomposition) a lot faster than moss. Other writers figure that they want to, and can safely get rid of, both, so they lump it altogether in "algae", a word that I avoid.
But what would you do if you found that the algae article in the wikipedia had been hijacked by somebody that defined it to be only dissolve phytoplankton, and two editors were conspiring to ensure that this never changes; and at least one of the editors teaches people how to dissolve phytoplankton for a living?
I mean if there's always two editors saying no to everything, then there's never going to be consensus to change anything in the article right?