[WikiEN-l] Destructionism

[William Beutler]

I don't think I'm putting polish above content, at least that's not my
intention. I agree that content is more important, and it deteriorates just
the same. Stevertigo's comment that started this thread included the
supposition that in some article "perfection has already been achieved" --
well, that I don't agree with, and so I don't think there is any such thing
as a "final stage of content review" except existentially. The final stage
is not the end.

So I am in favor putting loose restrictions around certain classes of
articles, be they FAs or BLPs. I think what I'm saying is, less
well-developed articles and those which carrying lower stakes benefit more
openness, because it increases the chance that they will be improved (many
have nowhere to go but up).

But when an article is functionally complete -- where the record of known
facts and significant viewpoints is set, barring future developments -- then
I think something like flagged revs is a good idea. It's a small-c
conservative viewpoint, about protecting what is good. And I wouldn't even
necessarily go so far as flagged revs, I just think an editor should be more
than an IP or unconfirmed user before they get to tinker with those articles
.


On Sat, Aug 7, 2010 at 12:08 PM, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 7 August 2010 01:45, William Beutler <williambeutler at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > As a concept, it bears thinking about. I'm not necessarily saying there
> > should be a hold placed on articles that have attained those statuses...
> OK,
> > maybe I am. Limit editing to autoconfirmed editors? Obviously when FAs
> reach
> > the front page, unhelpful editing pretty much always follows. I don't see
> it
> > as a terrible thing that editing be slowed down on those articles, for
> > instance. It took a lot of considered work to get there. Maybe it should
> > take some consideration to change them.
>
>
> I strongly disagree. Exposing them to the sort of casual editing they
> get being on the front page is the final stage of content review.
>
> These are not precious, polished jewels. They are working pieces of
> informational text. They need regular shaking up. Content is more
> important than polish. Moves to preserve polish over content are
> fundamentally wrong.
>
>
> - d.
>
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