[Wikipedia-l] Death to the comma count!

[Brion Vibber]

For months and months we've talked about revamping the article count
system, but nothing's changed. The article count is still an extension
of the "comma count" used to filter out empty articles in a search back
in the UseMod days.

Currently, a page is counted as an "article" for "we have X articles"
purposes if it is:
  * in the article namespace (so excludes talk pages, user
    pages, Wikipedia: help and utility pages)
  * not a redirect
  * contains a comma (!)

Now, we are well aware that page-count fever has gripped Wikipedia for
some time. The obsession with breaking the 100,000-page barrier on the
English stifled any implementation of reforms for fear of reducing the
count. Concerns about languages which don't use the ASCII comma
character have been shrugged off. Well, today I've seen enough.

While the English wiki has galumphed along for ages, secure in its place
as The World's Largest Damn Wiki, the smaller languages are in intense
(though friendly) competition with one another for runner-up positions.
"In real life," Youssefsan tells me, "people look for economic growth;
here for page growth. Both use 'creative accounting.'"

On the francophone Wikipedia, we have been exposed as the slaves to the
comma count that we all are but are ashamed to admit. See:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=CULTe&action=edit&oldid=33814

(Those who have trouble with my PGP-signed mail, go to fr.wikipedia.org,
look up article 'CULTe', and hit 'Modifier cette page'.)

Yes that's right, people have started adding commas as hidden comments
just to increase the stupid comma count. NO MORE, I say! Ils ne
passeront pas!

Unless a better count system is proposed, I will replace the comma check
with a greater-than-zero-size check within twelve hours.

-- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)
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