On 14 February 2012 06:02, David Richfield davidrichfield@gmail.com wrote:
Relevant:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Haymarket_affair#.22No_Evidence.22
As with so many cases, causing a stink gets the giant searchlight directed on the article, and things get worked out... it's just a pity it doesn't scale well!
This followup may be of some interest:
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/02/does-wikipedia-have-an...
I particularly liked this comment:
"Digging into Wikipedia's logs on the changes, it's clear that the entry's gatekeepers did not handle the situation optimally, chiding Messer-Kruse for his manners and not incorporating the new research into the article, even as a minority viewpoint. But it's also worth noting that the expectation that Wikipedia would quickly reflect such a dramatic change in a well-known historical narrative is a very, very high bar. (...) we hold this massive experiment in collaborative knowledge to a standard that is higher than any other source. We don't want Wikipedia to be just as accurate as the Encyclopedia Britannica: We want it to have 55 times as many entries, present contentious debates fairly, and reflect brand new scholarly research, all while being edited and overseen primarily by volunteers."