[WikiEN-l] a valid criticism

[Michael Turley]

On 10/7/05, Jimmy Wales <jwales at wikia.com> wrote:
> Anthony DiPierro wrote:
> > You know, if it was anyone else complaining about article quality, the
> > response would be something more like "{{sofixit}}".
>
> Yes, and that's a valid response to me.  Except, when people tell me
> {{sofixit}} I start thinking about broad policy, not about editing the
> article itself. :-)
>
> {{sofixit}} is what I intend to do, but at the level of policy.  We need
> to take a serious look at why some high-profile articles are delightful,
> and some are horrible.
>
> I do not think that the fact that Jane Fonda and Bill Gates are
> controversial figures is the real answer here, by the way.  They are,
> but the problems I'm complaining about in the articles is not that they
> are biased, nor that they focus too much on the controversies, etc.
>
> It's that they are badly written.  A confusing mishmash of random facts
> not shaped into a coherent whole.  Others have written eloquently on
> this, and on why this might be the case.  The puzzle, though, is: what
> can be done about it.
>
> Project outsiders might suggest only allowing "expert writers" to work
> on such articles.  I think any of us can explain how that's much easier
> said than done.

I would suggest a Wikiproject to write an "archtypical example" of
each type of article we have significant problems with, complete with
sidebar explanations of what is good about each section, both in what
was included in the model article, and what was excluded.  We should
start with "Biography".  An "annotated feature article" version would
illustrate how to create a good article of each type.  Then it's just
a matter of encouraging people to follow the examples or have a
legitmate reason not to.

Biographical articles on Wikipedia are often crap because biography is
a somewhat specialized field of writing that few people are formally
taught.  With thousands of users and probably only a few dozens who
have formal education about to do it right, it's no wonder we get many
that aren't very good.

That said, my surprise is not how bad so many are, nor how many are
bad, but instead, how many are actually pretty good.

--
Michael Turley
User:Unfocused