From: charles.r.matthews@ntlworld.com
"The Cunctator" wrote
I'd just like to remind people that Wikipedia was doing quite well in the Age Before Required Sourcing.
Yeah. But there has been something of a 'phase change'; and that is not for no reason. Several really. The readers are less tolerant of and amused by errors; the editing community has largely preferred a more academic approach over time. Nothing scales 'with impunity' (I think this is the fundamental theorem of computer science ...)
And in that age, when you said anything you were told that everyone understood that Wikipedia was a work in progress, and that sourcing would happen eventually.
Well, the work in progress is progressing, and that means that more and more "eventually" is now.
I was doing quite well in the age when I wore diapers, but eventually...