David Gerard wrote:
On 02/09/07, David Goodman dgoodmanny@gmail.com wrote:
I have seen no articles on wikipedia that could possibly compare for quality of writing with professionally edited nonfiction from an expert writer. All arts are difficult, and non-fiction writing is one of them. Consider the clarity of the writing in, say, the New Yorker and the ability of their authors to convey complicated material in readable prose. Distilling such information is a creative act as much as fiction or photography is.
Yes. Wikipedia is distinctly short of good prose writers, as a percentage of contributors.
It doesn't help an article whose prose is already good when a string of subsequent editors make their little changes throughout the article without regard to the larger stylistic picture.
Ec