[Wikipedia-l] Entries for deletion.... issues from the Third World

[Matthew Brown]

On 1/8/07, Lars Aronsson <lars at aronsson.se> wrote:
> Frederick Noronha wrote:
>
> > Maybe we should use some discernment, instead of the mechanical rule
> > of 'number of links' on Google or where-ever.
>
> The question if a topic is notable enough to deserve an entry, can
> only be answered with "yes" or "no", and this is pretty much
> "mechanical", so you cannot really escape the mechanics.

I think the idea that one could come up with a formula, a machine into
which one could put an subject and turn the handle and get a 'yes' or
'no' answer, to rule on inclusion in Wikipedia is fundamentally
wrong-headed.  It reflects a certain 'computer-science' way of
thinking that I feel is flawed - as someone said, expecting to be able
to fix social problems in software is a loser's game.

To some, I feel, such a definitive process would be desirable since
they think it would solve the rancor over inclusion - even if it made
some less-than-perfect decisions, they like the speed and finality and
definitiveness of such.  I think it would only increase the rancor.
There is disagreement about inclusion not because we've not yet
perfected the formula, but because there is deep-seated division on
what we're trying to do and what should be included.  Furthermore,
inclusion doesn't seem suited to binary logic - it's a problem in
which the answers do include definitive 'yes' and 'no' regions but a
substantial fuzzy zone of 'maybe'.

Answering that 'maybe' is the hard part.  Myself, I feel that the
deciding factor, once verifiability is out of the way (and answered
positively) is simply whether anyone is interested/able to make a
worthwhile article out of it.  In practice, well-written, substantial
articles rarely get deleted no matter what the subject.

-Matt