[WikiEN-l] Outrageous!

Fri Jan 2 20:59:32 UTC 2004

tarquin wrote:

> Fred Bauder wrote:
>
>>> From: Robert Graham Merkel <rgmerk at mira.net>
>>>
>>> If the Wikipedia had existed back in the 1530's and
>>> user:Copernicus had added a piece on [[Sun-centred universe theory]] we
>>> would have been perfectly correct to delete the article after 
>>> listing on
>>> VfD and suggest that he first publish his work elsewhere.   
>>
> Ah, but once journals had started covering his story -- even though 
> they said it was nonsense -- then we WOULD have covered it!

Don't count on it!  The Holy Inquisition's Fahrenheit 451 was not 
established just to deal with the handful of these people whose works 
survived.  It also dealt with some dangerous characters, and that became 
a justification for a wide sweep.  We just don't know about those many 
who completely failed to escape from that black hole.  (I don't forsee 
the Vatican Archives becoming completely open to the public soon.)  I 
don't think that a law-abiding 16th century Wikipedia would have had the 
courage to stare down the Holy Inquisition. :-)

Ec