From: Fred Bauder fredbaud@ctelco.net Why don't you just leave stubs alone and let them develop into articles through a natural process?
Fred
That assumes that they _will_ develop into articles. Some stubs are useful nuclei around which articles will crystallize. Others aren't. To assume that all stubs are equally valuable is silly.
Stubs were probably more useful in Wikipedia's early days as placeholders to flag important pieces of missing content than they are now.
Let me try a test. I'm going to look in newpages right now. I am going to look at the most recent new page with an article length of less than 200 bytes, and then I am going to look at most recent new page with an article length between 200 and 300 bytes.
Most recent under-200-byte page: ** IRISH LEPRECHAUN: A leprechaun is a creature from the folklore of the irish...it is believed that such creatures are related to fairies. according to tales of these beasts, if followed, they can lead one to a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow **
Given that we have a 2469-byte article on "Leprechaun" (which is short on serious or scholarly folkloric content, but is a decent description of the leprechaun as known in modern popular culture--and includes everything in "Irish Leprechaun" and more.)
Do you seriously think that "Irish Leprechaun" should be left to grow? Do you think it is going to become a scholarly essay on how Irish leprechauns differ from those of other nations? Or do you think it should become a redirect to "Leprechaun"
Most recent 200-to-300-byte page: ** COTILLION: Cotillion is a formal presentation of young ladies to society that have been recommended by a distinguished committee. The beneficiary is Children's National Medical Center. The National Debutante Cotillion and Thanksgiving Ball of Washington D.C. is 55 years old in 2004.
This article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . **
Now, that, to me, is a perfectly reasonable stub.
I don't know that the 200-byte rule is infallible, but I just tried it for the first time, and it seemed to work.
-- Daniel P. B. Smith, dpbsmith@verizon.net "Elinor Goulding Smith's Great Big Messy Book" is now back in print! Sample chapter at http://world.std.com/~dpbsmith/messy.html Buy it at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1403314063/
From: "Daniel P.B.Smith" dpbsmith@verizon.net Reply-To: English Wikipedia wikien-l@Wikipedia.org Date: Sun, 8 Aug 2004 13:54:22 -0400 To: wikien-l@Wikipedia.org Subject: [WikiEN-l] Re: 200-byte rule; all stubs not equally valuable
From: Fred Bauder fredbaud@ctelco.net Why don't you just leave stubs alone and let them develop into articles through a natural process?
Fred
That assumes that they _will_ develop into articles. Some stubs are useful nuclei around which articles will crystallize. Others aren't. To assume that all stubs are equally valuable is silly.
Stubs were probably more useful in Wikipedia's early days as placeholders to flag important pieces of missing content than they are now.
Let me try a test. I'm going to look in newpages right now. I am going to look at the most recent new page with an article length of less than 200 bytes, and then I am going to look at most recent new page with an article length between 200 and 300 bytes.
Most recent under-200-byte page: ** IRISH LEPRECHAUN: A leprechaun is a creature from the folklore of the irish...it is believed that such creatures are related to fairies. according to tales of these beasts, if followed, they can lead one to a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow **
Given that we have a 2469-byte article on "Leprechaun" (which is short on serious or scholarly folkloric content, but is a decent description of the leprechaun as known in modern popular culture--and includes everything in "Irish Leprechaun" and more.)
Do you seriously think that "Irish Leprechaun" should be left to grow? Do you think it is going to become a scholarly essay on how Irish leprechauns differ from those of other nations? Or do you think it should become a redirect to "Leprechaun"
It should become a redirect to "Leprechaun"
Most recent 200-to-300-byte page: ** COTILLION: Cotillion is a formal presentation of young ladies to society that have been recommended by a distinguished committee. The beneficiary is Children's National Medical Center. The National Debutante Cotillion and Thanksgiving Ball of Washington D.C. is 55 years old in 2004.
This article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . **
Now, that, to me, is a perfectly reasonable stub.
How about [[fandango]], a dance or party among the multi-cultural society which developed among the [[mountain men]] during the early 19th century in the American west.?
I don't know that the 200-byte rule is infallible, but I just tried it for the first time, and it seemed to work.
-- Daniel P. B. Smith, dpbsmith@verizon.net "Elinor Goulding Smith's Great Big Messy Book" is now back in print! Sample chapter at http://world.std.com/~dpbsmith/messy.html Buy it at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1403314063/
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