[Wikipedia-l] Death to the comma count!

[Anthere]

--- Brion Vibber <brion at pobox.com> wrote:
> 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)

Oui !
The french wikipedia has become a hunt place for
commas !
Even in articles less than 10 words long...

Why not a mix between the comma method, and a certain
number of words ? (at least people will know how to
count ;-))

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