[Foundation-l] Wikibooks on Harry Potter

[Robert Horning]

cbrown1023 at comcast.net wrote:
> Wikibooks has always been slightly loose in the definition department.  Basically, it is as its tagline shows, a library of textbooks.  These text books range in their subject matter as much as their contributors do.  Another thing to keep in mind is that on projects other than Wikipedia, original research is what they thrive on.
>
> The textbook in question, I believe, *does* meet the scope of the project.  Any textbook that someone wants to read is acceptable (for the most part :P)
>
> Casey Brown
> Cbrown1023
>
> -------------- Original message -------------- 
> From: "Gabe Johnson" <gjzilla at gmail.com> 
>
>   
>> On 7/20/07, habj wrote: 
>>     
>>> The Meta entry on Wikibooks 
>>> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikibooks 
>>> is not very thorough. How is a "textbook" defined? How is it defined what 
>>> fits on Wikibooks or not? Is "Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter" 
>>> http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Harry_Potter a suitable Wikibooks project? 
>>> Why/why not? 
>>>
>>> /habj 
>>>
>>>       
>> I think it would be suitable. It's no it's own work of fiction, it's a 
>> guide to one. ~~~~ 
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Absolute Power 
>>     
>>

Sorry I'm late in this discussion, but this has been dealt with ad 
nauseum on a VfD about this very text.  Twice.

See:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks:Votes_for_deletion/Archive_1#Harry_Potter_plots_and_Muggles.27_Guide_to_Harry_Potter
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks:Votes_for_deletion/Archive_11#Muggles.27_Guide_to_Harry_Potter

As far as the "textbook" emphasis, that is something which has always 
been a slippery slope.  A current discussion on en.wikibooks is to try 
and change the wording to "educational text materials" to reflect more 
the reality of the situation on Wikibooks.  There are a number of 
Wikibooks that don't necessarily fit the strict definition of something 
that would be considered a textbook, but are clearly non-fiction and do 
have an educational emphasis.

It is too bad that this text has to be marked yet again, presumably due 
to the current interest in all things about Harry Potter.

As a side note, there is some very significant activity happening right 
now with this book, and something which the Wikibooks admins have been 
preparing for for a little bit too.  With the release of the last book, 
plus the movie release, it was anticipated that there would be many new 
users on Wikibooks, and this has in fact proven to be true as well.  It 
will be interesting to see just how far some of these new participants 
may end up going once they stick around for a bit, as there are a few 
new individuals who are quite active at the moment and making positive 
contributions but are otherwise new to the Wiki-world.

-- Robert Horning