[WikiEN-l] The Economist on "notability"

[Bryan Derksen]

Philip Sandifer wrote:
> On Mar 6, 2008, at 4:16 PM, David Gerard wrote:
> 
>> http://www.economist.com/printedition/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10789354
>>
>> Yes, (the Wikipedia jargon meaning of) notability is suitable material
>> for a business- and economics-oriented news magazine.[*]
> 
> I will repeat my conviction that our notability guidelines are the  
> biggest PR blunder we engage in.

On a personal level I've found that my own editing activity has gone way 
down in the months since I found out about the swath of devastation that 
had been cut through our television-related articles on "notability" 
grounds. I don't do editing in that subject area myself, I generally 
prefer to gnome in more technical areas such as categories and 
templates, but nevertheless it cast a sense of gloom over my work. I 
just don't feel as proud about Wikipedia as I used to.

Editors spend a lot of effort crafting and contributing quality material 
under a free license for the whole world to use, readers enthuse about 
how comprehensive Wikipedia is to include such things, and then we throw 
it all away and chide people for having contributed it in the first 
place. Depressing.

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