[WikiEN-l] Re: Selecting content of print version

Wed Mar 3 21:00:41 UTC 2004

dpbsmith at verizon.net wrote:

>Thought number 1: Is the print version of Wikipedia going to have things in it like "List of famous gay, lesbian, and bisexual people" in it? That should distinguish us from the Columbia Encyclopedia and the Britannica, all right! Leaving Wikipedia subject to attack only by the clan Wallechinsky... (and, conceivably, disgruntled members of the list who object to their inclusion).
>
I don't find any need to add this list, but your right in saying that it 
would distinguish us from the others.. . . (and, what about those 
members off the list who object to their exclusion.) :-)

>Thought number 2: regardless of the legal defensibility of the use of some other encyclopedia's list of articles as a guideline for shaping Wikipedia's, it strikes me as being intellectually lazy and a bit dishonest. If we claim to be producing an encyclopedia, and do not have any other way of knowing what should be in it other than to compare its contents with some other encyclopedia, we're certainly leeching off of someone else's work, regardless of whether or not they can conduct a successful lawsuit over the matter.
>
But we do have other ways, which will point to other exclusions.  Why 
not use them all, including Columbia?  This does not imply that we will 
have the same contents.

Ec