Toby Bartels wrote:
If we change all "it's" to either "its" or the more formal "it is", then that list will gradually diminish.
So we're at the point now where it's been suggested to remove a word ("it's") entirely from Wikipedia because it's difficult to tell when it's misspelled? This is far more zealous than we need to be. Correct them when you find them, but don't go overboard -- they're just mispeelings!
Sheesh. Yet another minor issue that blows out of all proportion -- can we drop it now? If I were going on a hunt for incorrect uses of "it's", correcting most to "its" or "it is" has the advantage of shortening the next list of search results. I certainly wasn't suggesting changing "it's a long way to tipperary". I can't speak for AmEnglish, but in BrEnglish, a contraction such as "it's" is considered a little too informal for a work such as an encyclopedia or a dictionary.
Perhaps it was UK-centric of me to assume that that holds in AmEng too, in which case I apologize (but note that many US wikipedians could do with a healthy dose of culture shock to shake a few us-centric attitudes.)