[WikiEN-l] Lists which are sheer nonsense

[The Cunctator]

On Wed, 2003-03-05 at 18:14, rednblack at alum.mit.edu wrote:
> 
> Okay. People are actively editing [[List of songs whose title does not appear
> in their lyrics]]. Four or five people have assured me I am a rotten git for
> daring to question the necessity of this article, but I can't help it. I think
> the fact that people created, discussed, and edited this article is just wrong.
> Even worse, people I respect (e.g. Tannin and Tarquin) are working on this
> article. I'm willing to tolerate most lists, even [[Lists of Americans]], or
> whatever it's called now. But this just caps it for me.
> 
It's a much, much healthier approach to Wikipedia if you remember that
it's a collaborative experiment than a jewel to be polished. 


Let's put it this way: if you're getting upset about the creation of
interesting list entries, you should probably put some work into
creating some more advanced search/sort tools to allow the automated
retrieval of such information as the list of left-handed presidents or
of banana drinks. 

Without those tools, people are going to hand-create the lists.

Remember, Wikipedia has plenty of mechanisms for self-selection over the
long run. Uninteresting or useless entries will have few links, few
edits, few views. They wither on the vine.

It's much better for your blood pressure if you avoid getting upset by
others doing what they evidently enjoy, especially in a case like this,
which clearly doesn't impinge on your ability to contribute to
Wikipedia.

tc