[WikiEN-l] Why Google's online encyclopedia will never be as good as Wiki...

[David Gerard]

2008/9/23  <WJhonson at aol.com>:

> By the way Ayn didn't necessarily believe that a "committe" was nice.   A mob
> can be a committee as well.  The underlying point is that only  individuals
> can create true works of beauty.  That to her mind, a  collective can never
> create a work of beauty.  They can however, evidently,  create a "society" *in
> which* artists are free to express their works.  But  it's not the specific
> works that she would like created collectively, only the  environment in which
> those works could be created by invidivuals.
> That's my viewpoint of her viewpoint.


I think you'd be hard pressed to call any Wikipedia article a true
work of beauty (and I include FAs and GAs in that).

However, the pile of articles forms a work of great *utility* to the
casual reader, as demonstrated by getting an #8 Alexa rating while
never having tried to (and our ridiculous popularity costs us a small
fortune to serve). We're clearly doing something right, even if
working out what brings to mind parables about blind men and
elephants.


- d.