On 10/29/06, Phil Sandifer Snowspinner@gmail.com wrote:
Sadly, that article isn't mentioned, making it harder to identify what went wrong there. But we ought take caution, once again, about [[WP:BITE]] - the anecdote of "I corrected this information but it got changed back to wrong" or "I contributed an article on topic X that I'm a clear expert on but it got gutted" is getting too common.
Let's think about why this is getting more common.
1. We are getting more rigid about demanding sources/citations for new material. This is necessary. I expect most academics who contribute, being used to being judged by their qualifications/reputation, will not cite and reference their work in the way Wikipedia demands. 2. We're getting more efficient at working out when these demands are not being fulfilled. This is also necessary. 3. We're getting more prominent and more people are making such attempts. This is a by-product of our success.
So let's not leap to damning ourselves here. I'm not saying that we haven't got improvements to work towards (we most certainly have), but we must not go too far the other way and pay deference towards academics for their qualifications rather than their contributions.