[Wikipedia-l] Source texts

[Jimmy Wales]

lcrocker at nupedia.com wrote:
> I don't know that we ever agreed on a single policy.  Clearly,
> there is sentiment against mere "data dumping".   Just using
> Wikipedia as yet another host for old online texts doesn't
> really accomplish anything.  But there's not really any reason
> to /not/ include full texts along with articles about them,
> especially if they are short things like poems, essays, etc.

I think this is as close to the consensus as we've ever come.  It's a really
good statement.  "Yes, Virginia" and similar short famous texts should be included
only with a cross-reference from an article.

In this case, for example, there's historical interest in the New York
Sun, where this was originally published.  There's the famous line "If
it says it in the Sun, it's so."  I think the New York Sun was just
recently (or will be soon) relaunched, so interest in the Sun might
lead people to this famous historical essay.  I see no reason not to
include it as a sidebar, in this context.

But, with Lee, I think that "mere 'data dumping'" isn't so useful.  I
mean, we could auto-import all of the Gutenberg texts... but to what
purpose?  We aren't a text repository, but an encyclopedia.

--Jimbo