[WikiEN-l] Being bold doesn't work anymore, or why our prose is so bad.

[Steve Bennett]

Against my better judgment, I attempted to improve the wording of a
particularly badly written article. Last time I did this ([[Spruce
goose]]), it got reverted. Guess what?

Here are my changes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bird_strike&diff=156028841&oldid=151904678

And the (partial) revert:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bird_strike&diff=next&oldid=156028841

The reverter seems to think it's important to mention that birdstrikes
"will result in major injuries or death to the bird" and is
particularly enamored with the phrasing in "High speeds, however, as
for example with modern jet engine aircraft will produce considerable
energy and may cause considerable damage ".

Is it just aviation? Is it just me being jaded and impatient? Or is
this the reason so much of Wikipedia prose is so crap? Because the
payoff for trying to fix it is so small, and editors put so much
weight on every possible detail being retained, at the expense of
clarity and readability?

Feel free to tell me if I'm totally off base here.

Steve