[Foundation-l] Lingoz vs Wiktionary

[Dmcdevit]

David Gerard wrote:
> http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/10/02/lingoz-wiktionary-done-right/
>
>
> - d.
>   

"The editorial back-and-forth process that works so well for 
encyclopedic entries on Wikipedia seems less successful when applied to 
defining dictionary terms, a process more suited towards voting on 
multiple versions of a definition."

Sadly, this sounds like nonsense from someone that has never considered 
a dictionary before. He's made the critical error of assuming that a 
dictionary is something that tells us what to say, and that 
Wiktionarians are involved in deciding what is Right and what is Wrong 
(as if NPOV is a concept limited to encyclopedias). In fact, we use 
citations to verify disputed word meanings, and are only involved in 
documenting all words in all languages, as they are used, not as only as 
they are "supposed" to be used. (spam: 
<http://www.dictionaryevangelist.com/2007/08/request-denied.html>) There 
are lots of things I would like to see improved about Wiktionary. Lots. 
But the premise that a wiki is not suitable for a dictionary has no 
merit. The premise that an unfree, commercial, bloglike one, with no 
apparent standards, and which I can't even fix being an alternative to 
Wiktionary is one that I can't even fathom.

Meanwhile, an improved Urban Dictionary (of course, another "reference" 
I can't even fathom using), what this site looks to become, isn't what 
we need. I'm searching desperately for the "edit" tab to correct the 
mangled capitalization of "Blog Fog," the term on the "Hot Definition" 
on the main page, of which 98 people approved (99 now; testing confirms 
that I can't vote against without logging in, but I can vote for it 
without an account--further testing shows that even with an account you 
need 50 "points" for a down vote; I couldn't even do anything about 
blatant spam except send my comment marking it as a "mistake" off into 
the ether ). Apparently hotness is judged in terms of popularity, and 
not accuracy.

Oh well, I'm off to go think up the coolest word I make up, and see if I 
can make it to the main page. :-)

Dominic