On Thu, 18 Mar 2004, Dan Miller wrote:
It's another thing to have a link or entry
that does
nothing more than
promote the business. I removed an external link to
a listing of a local
chain of restaurants for that reason. From your
description, Nunh-huh is
doing nothing more than providing free advertising.
Geoff
I disagree. Imagine [[Las Vegas]] without mentioning
the MGM Grand, or [[Chicago]] without mentioning
Wrigley Field. Private enterprises compose an
essential part of the character of many places, and
avoiding them emasculates the articles.
Well, those fall into the first category: they have cultural
or social value. I cited as an example of such a case Powell's
Books in Portland.
What I'm against is (for example) listing
all of local coffee shops for Eugene, Oregon, with nothing
more than addresses and business hours. Not only does something
like that erode our non-profit status, it leads into a tangle
that can only end in frustration -- e.g., someone sees her/his
favorite coffee shop is left out for reasons she/he refuses
to accept, & ends up suing Wikipedia because by listing said
business Wikipedia is implicitly not recommending this vendor.
It's a fine line, but a clear line. And it's another issue I'll
probably lose, as I did concerning schools.
Geoff