[Wikipedia-l] Downloading Wikipedia (was: please help me)

[Ray Saintonge]

Axel Boldt wrote:

> Our customer here was only interested in math articles, and a download 
> of the whole Wikipedia probably wouldn't even have been attractive
> for him. So a web site with a static version of Wikipedia that is open 
> to programs like Webstripper would also be a good thing.
>
> Actually, I'm sure that once we offer ready-made HTML trees for 
> download, someone somewhere will set up such a site.

This brings back the issue of classification and categorization schemes 
(which I think Magnus was working on).  Of course, I get gunshy when 
people turn that into a debate about censorship.  Certainly the tool 
that such schemes give us can also be used to effect censorship. 
 Similarly those who oppose gun control will say that guns have more 
uses than just shooting people.

I very much support a broadly inclusionist Wikipedia with as few rules 
as possible for what it allows.  At the same time I support multiple 
classification schemes, and am not troubled at all by the notion that 
someone might develop a highly censored subset of Wikipedia.  If someone 
wants to set up a subset that would exclude all articles that have the 
word "and" it would seem goofy, who am I to complain as long as it does 
not compromise the inclusionist nature of the overall project?

In the past I've tended to support one classification scheme, but really 
there's no reason not to have multiple classification schemes.  All we 
would need is a way to distinguish which scheme is being used.

Ec