lcrocker@nupedia.com wrote:
I don't know that we ever agreed on a single policy. Clearly, there is sentiment against mere "data dumping". Just using Wikipedia as yet another host for old online texts doesn't really accomplish anything. But there's not really any reason to /not/ include full texts along with articles about them, especially if they are short things like poems, essays, etc.
I think this is as close to the consensus as we've ever come. It's a really good statement. "Yes, Virginia" and similar short famous texts should be included only with a cross-reference from an article.
In this case, for example, there's historical interest in the New York Sun, where this was originally published. There's the famous line "If it says it in the Sun, it's so." I think the New York Sun was just recently (or will be soon) relaunched, so interest in the Sun might lead people to this famous historical essay. I see no reason not to include it as a sidebar, in this context.
But, with Lee, I think that "mere 'data dumping'" isn't so useful. I mean, we could auto-import all of the Gutenberg texts... but to what purpose? We aren't a text repository, but an encyclopedia.
--Jimbo