[Foundation-l] Outdated manual

[MZMcBride]

Federico Leva (Nemo) wrote:
> MZMcBride, 11/04/2011 01:23:
>> Or better yet, focus on something that's actually meaningful. Does it make a
>> difference to anyone whether Wikipedia is the sixth most-visited website or
>> the tenth?
> 
> Yes. For instance, if you don't acknowledge that Facebook has now more
> visits than Wikipedia you don't understand that the Internet has changed
> in the last few years.

Sorry, I may have been unclear. I wasn't saying that it literally matters to
no one what rank Wikimedia web properties have in comparison to other web
properties. I was saying that in the context that it's being used (in press
releases, job openings, etc.), it's not adding any actual value, it's just
puffery (and arguably inaccurate or misleading puffery, which is even
worse).

> If WMF websites happened to be overtaken by Ask.com or some other
> website, it would be good to be forced to change the habit of how we
> describe them.

If you use more generic language, the likelihood of needing to update that
language later decreases. Wikimedia sites will likely be in the top ten for
quite some time. Whether they'll be fifth isn't nearly as assured. The
simplest and sanest solution seems to be to drop the needless precision.

MZMcBride