[WikiEN-l] How-to guides and OR

[Stan Shebs]

Earle Martin wrote:
> What's the best procedure to follow when encountering an article like
> [[Bugaboo Spire]]? It doesn't seem to be copied copyrighted material,
> but more likely original research, and at the very least a how-to
> guide[1] for climbing certain mountains. Simply chopping the material
> in question out seems a little brutal.
>
>   
All but the most obscure or recent climbs have an authoritative climbing 
guidebook that is the right source for details of route descriptions - 
you won't find original research on WP unless first-ascenders start 
reporting their adventures here rather than in the climbing journals. 
The prescriptive rather than descriptive style is typical for routes, 
descriptive style tends to be clumsy. Given that WP is a compendium and 
not the whole library, I think the right approach is to prune each route 
down to general description and highlights, and refer readers to the 
climbing guidebook for full details - climbers printing out WP articles 
to take along seems just as undesirable as surgeons printing out 
articles on their way into the OR... :-)

Stan