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

[Ray Saintonge]

Frederick Noronha wrote:

>If anyone convinces Wikipedia that it needs to be "more like the real
>thing" (whatever that is, including mainstream, printed encyclopedias
>or Encarta), it would be a great loss for the attempt to build
>alternatives. Likewise, it would be hardly helpful if anyone convinces
>Wikipedia that it should focus on the "standard and quality
>information" argument (whatever that is supposed to mean!) over all
>other strengths of the Wikipedia experiment.
>
The value of Wikipedia is as much in the processes that it stands for as 
its contents.  This does not mean that we should embrace clearly 
inappropriate content, but obscure or remote does not equate to 
inappropriate.  This process does recognize that good content builds up 
over a length of time with the help of a separate community of editors 
for each article.  A smaller article community implies that the buildup 
of that article will take longer.  There is no need to be impatient 
about any article.

>For someone like me, the strength of the Wikipedia lies mainly in the
>fact that it has space also for my village of 8000 to be written about
>for a global audience (in a factual manner, of course). If things that
>are important to me are going to be seen as "peripheral" (just because
>they lack size or not being visible enough in cyberspace), then in
>what way is it different from the mainstream... that has kept me out
>in the cold for so long, anyway?
>
When it comes to the size of notable communities, I believe that Rambot 
has set the standard with his wide selection of United States place 
names.  The standard applied to the Unied States should be taken as a 
precedent for other countries of the world.  I have several volumes 
published by the Government of India and listing all the post offices in 
India.  From my perspective, if the village is in that publication it is 
notable.  100 people in a small village in India are just as valuable as 
100 people in a small United States village.

>Just the other day, a speaker here in Goa, India was describing
>"remote" communities, and pointing out that the term is misleading in
>itself. As he put it, the logic of "remoteness" is always connected to
>our definition of what is the centre (of the world, of the nation
>state, or whatever). "For people out there, their own location, of
>course, is the centre of the world, as far as they go," he said.
>
I have often wondered why Goans that I have met locally here in Canada 
should become so disporportionately prominent when compared to 
immigrants from other parts of India.

Ec