Lars Aronsson wrote:
We tend to think of Wikipedia as something big, one of
the biggest
things to have happened on the Internet. But walk into any
library and consider how small their encyclopedia shelf is in
comparison to the rest of the library. We have a lot to do.
In the end, Wikipedia might serve as a subject index to
Wikisource. The index tends to be smaller than the book.
In relation to what has been done in the past Wikipedia is indeed huge.
I see is as an index to both Wikisource and Wikibooks, and even more.
Your point is well taken. Even if we eliminate all copyright protected
work from consideration the task is still huge. I sometimes wonder
whether those who complain about the notability of an article ever grasp
the size of the task It often seems that the only thing less notable
about some of these subjects is the discussion about their notability.
I would rather see all that manpower working on building the new library
insead of obsessing about the graffiti that has been scribbled in a book.
Ec