[WikiEN-l] A further descent into self-referential idiocy

[Delirium]

Andrew Gray wrote:
> Are we really saying that *because we made up an arbitrary rule
> ourselves*, we get to ignore any form of editorial sense and then
> loudly disclaim responsibility for the result? Do people honestly
> believe that this makes us an encyclopedia? A grand game of nomic over
> what does and doesn't constitute a topic, an endless series of rules
> on who we can and cannot write about, without any attempt to apply
> *judgement* to them? Without any attempt to say - hey, sometimes we
> have to make decisions on things?
>   

Many of us are applying judgment; we just reach the opposite conclusions 
in some cases.  I, for one, make the considered judgment that as an 
encyclopedia with thorough coverage, we would be remiss in failing to 
provide at least a short biography of a person who's received major 
coverage (including a front-page story) in large-circulation 
newspapers.  Whether she *should* have received such coverage is another 
debate, but not one that's my decision, since I don't edit those 
newspapers.  I would tend towards no, but then I would say that about 
[[Natalee Holloway]] too, and I don't plan to argue for her article to 
be deleted either.

-Mark