When we are so famous, why is it that maybe 3% of the Italians know Wikipedia ..
And it is OK for the other 97% of Italians to first hear about Wikipedia while reading a very negative review of it?
Well ... if you let negative articles do the marketing ... I do not allow that ... I do talk to people about wikipedia, I print out articles, I pass them around, I show them where it is useful, I give articles to some of the kids that come to me get (printed) articles on the subject they are studying at school, they take it to their teachers, friends etc.
Anyone of us can do that - that is positive usage, positive marketing ... but if you believe newspapers who are only in search for scoops and whatever will help us to become known ... well ...
Do you know of a reporter who likes to write about positive news? These do not make scoop and do not make the reporter rich ... no ... so we are the ones who need to be be positive reporters.
The 97% of Italians need to hear from us about wikipedia and not from others ... and this is the way anywhere in the world.
We are the ones in charge - not newspapers, TV or whatever.
I am sorry but in my opinion this whole thing is too inward looking. You do not appreciate the potential fallout of all this.
And fallout from hosing libelous and inaccurate content is OK?
Well if you mean that any content without reference is inaccurate you can already delete 97% of the articles that are around ... sorry ... and this is like saying: people who contribute are inaccurate contributors.
I'd say 99% of all contributors do their best - with or without "adding references".
Adding references is not a panacea. But it is a very important part of checking the accuracy of content.
Well: so who likes to check things can go and add references - but requiring it from anyone will have very negative results ... and this will mean that many of the people I was just getting on becoming interested in giving their expertise to Wikipedia will not be there ... months of work for nothing ... these people have years of expertise, loads of knowledge, but like me: it will be impossible for them to give sources since it is expertise that comes from many years of translation work in different fields. They all, if/when they start, will start with some kind of stub and need someone to take them by the hand ... the wiki "language" (tags etc.) are not for anyone and often prevent people from contributing.
Ciao, Sabine
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