[Wikipedia-l] Talk policy

[Robert Bihlmeyer]

Hi,

I often stumble over /Talk pages containing requests for changes,
clarification, or similar, which are outdated by the main page's
progress. An example of many is
<URL:http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki.cgi?action=browse&id=LISP_programming_language/Talk&revision=1>:

> Page for discussion ...

Fluff, removed now.

> "... and is therefore the oldest programming language ..."

with arguments why this is false. Notion has been corrected in the
article. Following is a section acknowledging the error.

> "... and CDR (Contents of Address Register) ..."

Pointing out a typo, which has been fixed. Another section
acknowledging this error follows.

> Function CAR in LISP program returns ...

I don't know what this is, perhaps a suggested addition to the article?

So, one section is still relevant, the other four or five were used by
people to showcase problems that they were not sure enough about to go
ahead and correct them. I'm unsure what should be done about these
no-longer-relevant bits.

My preferred alternative is deleting them outright, and make the
following guideline: If you implement a suggestion from a /Talk page,
be sure to delete the suggestion as well. It is no longer relevant to
the current revision of the article.

The counter argument that holds me back is that the discussion
provides background reasoning to changes, especially regarding more
contentious topics.

(Obviously this does not apply to the CAR/CDR change, so I decided to
remove that as well, now.)

Thoughts?

-- 
Robbe
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