[WikiEN-l] Preservation of context.

[Geoff Burling]

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004, Sascha Noyes wrote:

> On Wednesday 18 February 2004 04:22 pm, Plautus Satire wrote:
>
> > Or is it the frustration I'm sure many have endured of
> > being banned and moderated for hurting somebody's feelings with the truth?
>
> No. This is precisely the wrong attitude. If what constitutes the "truth" is
> under contention, then simply stating that you are the bearer of the supreme
> and only truth will lead nowhere except reversion wars. What is needed is
> backing up with evidence and citations. Which you seem to describe as
> "constantly defend each and every single edit".
>
I think this is a postive direction for Wikipedia to move: providing
sources & backup for not only the opinions or judgements presented here --
but also for the facts. Spend a little time in alt.folklore.urban, & you
will see how off-the-cuff surmises can morph into statements "everyone
knows"; study almost any social science in depth, & you will see how
a thesis thrown out by one writer will become a fact in another's paper.

One of the open secrets of 20th century print encyclopedias is that the
material in them was often outdated or incorrect. But since the target
audience was the school kid either looking to find the population & chief
industry of Boise, Idaho, or looking for text to copy into his report
on Flatworms, no one cared.

Even if this process is slower, we can be proud that the result will be
more accurate.

Geoff