On 02/09/07, David Goodman
<dgoodmanny(a)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