Steve Bennett wrote:
On 1/27/07, Rich Holton <richholton(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
Wikipedia is not a web directory. There are (or
were, at least) people
who condense Wikipedia on CD/DVDs for use by those who don't have
(reliable) internet access. This sort of distribution is a fundamental
objective of the project. Suggesting that we don't need to include
information because it's available elsewhere on the web suggests a
misunderstanding of the project.
"Don't need to" is terribly simplistic. We don't have infinite
resources, or infinite time. If we did, everything would be simple.
But given that I can spend only finite per time working on Wikipedia,
where would you, the hypothetical pointy-haired boss of Wikipedia want
me to spend my time? Creating 10 stubs with 1 external link each, or
creating 1 article with 10 lines of text?
There are endless ways of contributing to Wikipedia. Just because one
chooses not to take up one of them doesn't mean one isn't
contributing...
I don't care whether you add stubs, "micro-stubs", or featured-article
quality articles. This isn't about what _you_ decide to work on.
Going back to your post that I was replying to:
<quoted text>
Have a look at [[Club skifield]] (which I wrote). Follow the external
link. Is it really worth our (my) while attempting to write something
that surpasses the link in terms of quality, depth, comprehensiveness
of coverage? Practically speaking, who is going to be reading
Wikipedia that doesn't have access to the net, but needs that
information?
</quoted text>
I took this to be a suggestion that it isn't worth your (our) effort to
include or better content that is found elsewhere on the net. And I
wanted to make sure that you (we) understood that there _are_ people who
will use Wikipedia without having access to the web.
And I don't appreciate your painting me as some sort of self-appointed
Wikipedia manager. There was nothing in my post to suggest that I
objected to your efforts. What I objected to was what I perceived as
your limited understanding of the nature of the project.
-Rich