[WikiEN-l] A war on external links? Was: Inside Higher Ed: Does Wikipedia Suck?

[Fred Bauder]

> On Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 6:10 AM, Fred Bauder <fredbaud at fairpoint.net>
> wrote:
>> Yes, that disposes of them. The point is to have external links and
>> further reading available to users of the reference at the foot of the
>> article. The consensus to routinely remove such material arose a few
>> years ago and it diminishes the utility of Wikipedia as a reference
>> work.
>>
>> Fred Bauder
>
> I don't think there's such a consensus, site wide.  I have seen
> articles where someone OWNs it and there is a local consensus.
>
> Keep in mind that we risk ending up with our articles web link farms
> which is are not maintained in any consistent manner.
>
> I support good links, and add them.  But there's a downside there too.
>
> -george william herbert
> george.herbert at gmail.com
>

External links and further reading are content like any other content.
They require maintenance and sound judgment. What I object to is the
meataxe approach to editing with respect to external links and further
reading as well as article content. We all understand the problem when
it's done with article content.

Fred Bauder