Your email is a bit too black and white: There are important articles in Humanities, not just in exact sciences, and a Bob Dylan album is arguably a touch more important than a South Park episode.
But in general you make an important point. In the Hebrew Wikipedia several prominent editors adopted an attitude they call "Wiki A / Wiki B", which they define more or less like this: * To "Wiki A" belong articles that are likely to be used by students to do homework. They should be as good as possible. * To "Wiki B" belong articles about articles about pop culture, video games and sportsmen. It's a waste of time and mental health to try to get "Wiki B" articles deleted, but it's also a waste of time to get them improved.
Also, "Wiki B"-style articles rarely get to FA status in he.wp.
On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 14:31, Bod Notbod bodnotbod@gmail.com wrote:
"The primary function of the Wikipedias is to educate in the sciences, philosophy, technology and all that truly useful stuff. Nevertheless there's an argument for a Featured Article on South Park because it brings in new blood. Such an article can pique the interest of teens and twenties and get them involved. Discuss."
My reply would be:
There's a difficulty in that you get trapped. At the moment, the task I've set myself is to review Featured Article candidates. You might set yourself a task and find yourself dealing with stuff that, frankly, isn't very educational. I proofread an article on a Bob Dylan album because it came up for review. But should I really be proofreading articles on biology, chemistry and physics?
I don't have expertise in those areas but I may at least change an "its" to an "it's" or vice versa.
I think at the heart of the question is; do you find yourself sticking to a routine without questioning the relative value of what you're doing? Is fighting vandalism on a South Park article equal to fighting vandalism on science? We all only have a certain number of hours in the day.
User:Bodnotbod
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