[WikiEN-l] HOWTOs/Recipes/Instructions and other imperativecontent

[Ray Saintonge]

Charles Matthews wrote:

>>I really don't think it matters if recipes and other how to's are on
>>
>wikipedia or on wikibooks, as long as they are not deleted totally. Can we
>come to some agreement on what to do and just do it. I would like a policy
>in place so that they don't keep getting listed on VfD.
>
>>Theresa
>>
>
>Well, I believed it was policy they all went to wikibooks; I thought and
>think that that's a good, clear policy; and not one that hampers changing
>the policy later if other thoughts prevail.
>
When did that become policy?  Some of the recipes have been there more 
than two years.  The first that I knew about the moves was two days ago 
when the matter came up on the mailing list.

It seems that some proposed policy statements get posted on an obscure 
page, and if nobody notices it for some period of time (which is often 
of reasonable length) it's assumed that silence is consent.  When a 
newbie comes along and reads it, he understandably interprets the 
statement as though it were policy.  He proceeds to quite innocently act 
upon it, and set off a firestorm from the old-timers who never heard of 
this rule.

Wikipedia and it's related projects have become a huge undertaking where 
many contributors work away quietly in their own limited area of 
interest and expertise.  Those contributors don't spend a lot of time 
analyzing a lot of rules; they want even less to be involved in 
rancorous debates about whether something should be deleted.  For me the 
matters that come up on the mailing lists combined with administrative 
duties at Wiktionary and Wikisource are more than enough to satisfy any 
cravings that I might have for bureaucratic participation.  

Those with a passion for rule making need to understand the human 
consequences of their rule-making.  Today's rules fill many pages, and 
that is not to anybody's advantage.

Ec