[WikiEN-l] Ban notices, Wikipedia, and search engines.

[Angus McLellan]

 "Monahon, Peter B." <Peter.Monahon at USPTO.GOV> wrote:
> Response:  I like to search user_talk pages at least because it a last
> bastion where over-zealous admins may not delete the content I seek.  It
> is generally considered non-competitive, and therefore non-combative.  I
> find it to contains a wealth of valuable, conceptualizing information.

At this point I'm bemused, but not yet baffled.

<snip>
>For me, too much information is never enough!  I can go to
> http://www.bartlby.com/ or http://www.dictionary.com/ if I want a brief
> synoptic overview, and I have http://www. credoreference.com/
> subscription at work for pan-research.  I come to Wikipedia to get what
> only Wikipedia offers - a community of people passionately interested in
> the same subject I am, and I want all the attendant "noise" that comes
> with it.
<snip>

And now the message seems only one step removed from the automagical
incoherence of usenet sporgery. That could be a fault with the reader,
but rereading didn't help.

Whatever the point was, it appears to be founded on a misconception.
Wikipedia is not "a community of people passionately interested in the
same subject" the writer is, whatever that may be. Or rather, it's
only that if the subject is creating a free* encyclopedia that anyone*
 can edit*.

<small>* Terms and conditions apply.</small>

If there was an important point being made here, perhaps it could be
rephrased so that even over-zealous admins can understand it.

In the time I read that twice, and replied to it, I could have bodged
up something on [[Yvonne Serruys]], and perhaps found a pd image or
two to go with it. So, back to lurking for me then.

Angus