[WikiEN-l] a valid criticism

[Kat Walsh]

On 10/7/05, Justin Cormack <justin at specialbusservice.com> wrote:

> Maybe I do have surprising expectations, but I do think that even 7 year
> olds are more interested in "Puppy" rather than "Dog" say. Big articles
> are just stopping off points for whatever you are really trying to find,
> the article about the particularly cute kind of puppy that just ran
> past.

I disagree on this, and I wonder why so many people state it: a good
encyclopedic article on a broad subject I am only casually acquainted
with is very useful, and in fact Wikipedia is often the first place
I'll turn. There are plenty of basic subjects for which I do not know
most of the information contained in a decent encyclopedia article;
I'd imagine this is true of most people. (Granted, I didn't go to a
particularly good school, but even so!)

But even if it is only a stopping-off point -- how will readers find
the niche subject they really want to find if the main article does
not lead them there by framing it with appropriate context and general
information to let them know which subtopic they are looking for? If
[[dog]] were so lacking as not to say that a young dog is a puppy and
that the breed that ran by was probably a retriever, it wouldn't be
much to step off from.

Not to mention that more people will be stepping off from them than
will ever see or want to see [[Criticism of wicker in advanced quantum
basket-weaving]].

(I say this knowing full well that my own area of interest, [[music]],
is a mess, and one I have barely touched: it's a daunting task...)

-Kat
[[User:Mindspillage]]

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