[WikiEN-l] Re: 200-byte rule; all stubs not equally valuable

Sun Aug 8 17:54:22 UTC 2004

> From: Fred Bauder <fredbaud at ctelco.net>
> Why don't you just leave stubs alone and let them develop into articles
> through a natural process?
>
> Fred

That assumes that they _will_ develop into articles. Some stubs are 
useful nuclei around which articles will crystallize. Others aren't. To 
assume that all stubs are equally valuable is silly.

Stubs were probably more useful in Wikipedia's early days as 
placeholders to flag important pieces of missing content than they are 
now.

Let me try a test. I'm going to look in newpages right now. I am going 
to look at the most recent new page with an article length of less than 
200 bytes, and then I am going to look at most recent new page with an 
article length between 200 and 300 bytes.

Most recent under-200-byte page:
     **
IRISH LEPRECHAUN: A leprechaun is a creature from the folklore of the 
irish...it is believed that such creatures are related to fairies. 
according to tales of these beasts, if followed, they can lead one to a 
pot of gold at the end of the rainbow
     **

Given that we have a 2469-byte article on "Leprechaun" (which is short 
on serious or scholarly folkloric content, but is a decent description 
of the leprechaun as known in modern popular culture--and includes 
everything in "Irish Leprechaun" and more.)

Do you seriously think that "Irish Leprechaun" should be left to grow? 
Do you think it is going to become a scholarly essay on how Irish 
leprechauns differ from those of other nations? Or do you think it 
should become a redirect to "Leprechaun"

Most recent 200-to-300-byte page:
      **
COTILLION: Cotillion is a formal presentation of young ladies to 
society that have been recommended by a distinguished committee. The 
beneficiary is Children's National Medical Center. The National 
Debutante Cotillion and Thanksgiving Ball of Washington D.C. is 55 
years old in 2004.

This article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it .
     **

Now, that, to me, is a perfectly reasonable stub.

I don't know that the 200-byte rule is infallible, but I just tried it 
for the first time, and it seemed to work.

--
Daniel P. B. Smith, dpbsmith at verizon.net
"Elinor Goulding Smith's Great Big Messy Book" is now back in print!
Sample chapter at http://world.std.com/~dpbsmith/messy.html
Buy it at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1403314063/