[WikiEN-l] Deleting over 45000 items

[Phil Boswell]

Tony Sidaway wrote:
> 
> On 6/21/07, William Pietri <william at scissor.com> wrote:
> We do not write a good encyclopedia by pandering to that kind of
> illiteracy (a word that used in this context is, I think, doubly
> appropriate).
> 
Actually, I think a good encyclopaedia is capable of catering for all levels
of literacy.

This seems like a good time to trot out my usual mantra, with a little twist
to it (see, I spoiled you there ;):
"You don't read an encyclopaedia to learn stuff you already know: you read
to learn stuff you didn't already know."

What we have to bear in mind is that there are still a huge number of
people---including but not limited to those younger than yourself, Tony, and
indeed myself---who will not have seen "Citizen Kane". In fact I have not
seen it myself; I cannot now see it in an "unspoiled" state because I have
read our article. It would be a shame if we were to make a practice of
deliberately ruining young people's "growing-up experience" by telling all
the endings before they even get a chance to find out for themselves.

I see these sarcastic lists of "well-known endings" and I wonder whether the
writers realise just how stupid they are being: maybe they *are* obvious to
anybody over a certain age. but before you ever reach that age, you've got
to be younger first, and if all the mysteries are spoiled for you already,
what chance have you of enjoying them?

I have to say that some of the comments on this thread smack worryingly of
the mean-spirited bastards who undertook the "Snape kills Dumbledore"
campaign, driving past queues of people waiting to buy the book,
deliberately giving away the "shock ending". We have to bear in mind that
some items, like books and films, are not available to everybody at the same
time: someone visiting our article on a book yet to be published where they
live should not have the story thrust down their throats in the lede.

We also have to bear in mind that if someone's first experience of Wikipedia
is to ruin their enjoyment of something to which they were looking forward,
they might well be unlikely to return. If you are the kind of person whose
reaction is "good riddance" then I think you need to reconsider your
attitude very carefully.
-- 
View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/Deleting-over-45000-items-tf3952544.html#a11256482
Sent from the English Wikipedia mailing list archive at Nabble.com.