Re: [Wikipedia-l] Allow multiple entries for one topic

Dear all, Inspired by the article about Wikipedia in Nature, I have recently made some contributions to Wikipedia in my field of expertise. Based on this experience with Wikipedia, I would like to suggest a change to the structure of Wikipedia. I'm not sure whether my suggestion has been discussed previously. I have scanned e-mails in the list from the last months and couldn't find anything related, but apologize if I simply reiterate an older discussion. Here's my suggestion: Allow multiple entries for one topic. Why? In my opinion, there is no such thing as THE perfect entry about a topic or, as a matter of fact, the TRUTH about a topic. So, why adopt one of the shortcomings of printed encyclopedias? Why not allow users to read different entries (and opinions!) about one topic? An important complement of my suggestion is the introduction of a rating system. How could this work? I would suggest a rating system consisting of three parts. After reading an article, you can: 1. rate the quality of the entry on a, say, 6-point rating scale 2. rate yourself as an expert, amateur, or layperson in the field the entry belongs to 3. enter strengths or weaknesses of this entry in a comment textbox (not obligatory) When you access an entry, you would then first get a list of existing entries with their respective ratings – separately for expert, amateur, and layperson ratings. Based on these ratings, you then choose the article you want to read. Open questions: Is there a danger of too many articles for one topic? Should there be a limit of parallel articles? If yes, how do you get in new articles if this limit is reached? (Possible solution: You can write a new article and "challenge" the worst existing article. If your article gets higher ratings in the next, say, 4 weeks, your article replaces the older one.) Best, Troas -- Telefonieren Sie schon oder sparen Sie noch? NEU: GMX Phone_Flat http://www.gmx.net/de/go/telefonie _______________________________________________ Wikipedia-l mailing list Wikipedia-l(a)Wikimedia.org http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikipedia-l