[Wikipedia-l] Metacomments

[mattheww+wikipedia at chiark.greenend.org.uk]

On Tue, Oct 01, 2002 at 02:07:34PM +0100, Khendon wrote:
> I'd like to know exactly what the consensus is on "metacomments" within
> an article text - "More should be written here", "See WikiProject Foo
> for help with editing this page", "Is this correct?", and so on.
> 
> I'm of the opinion that things like this should almost always
> be in the Talk page. Having them in the article looks tacky and
> unprofessional.

I disagree. I don't know about the WikiProject references, but 'is this
correct?' and 'more should be written about <whatever>' both seem
valuable to me.

I prefer an article which points out its weaknesses to one which
glosses them over; I think it's more useful to the reader, as well as
more encouraging to potential editors. I don't think there's anything
unprofessional about work in progress.

In general, if someone thinks its worth their while to add something to
a page, I think it's best to give them the benefit of the doubt, even
if it's something you wouldn't have added yourself.

-M-