[WikiEN-l] Re: Reliable, selectable content

Sat Apr 9 06:20:00 UTC 2005

On Fri, 8 Apr 2005, David Gerard wrote:

> Whatever happens, it'll be a horrible shitfight trying to cut the majestic
> sprawl of en: Wikipedia down to a single concise volume. Say, fifty
> thousand articles. WHICH FIFTY THOUSAND?
>
> 1. Whole areas will be cut out.
> 2. Areas we're particularly good in will get cut *way* back.
> 3. Endless, fractious and bloody wars over what gets in and what doesn't.
>
> Is there a way around this which doesn't require someone making the
> decision and choosing between pissing off half the community and pissing
> off half the community?
>
Would a first step be to include every article listed at [[WP:FAC]]? As
that list currently stands, we have 1% of that 50,000 selected, & unless
we figure out a way to select the other 99% within a few years, we may
end up finding that we have 50,000 Featured Articles & render the question
of how to select moot.

I believe it's possible we could have that many featured articles in that
short of time. As a whole, EN has settled into a doubling period of about 15
months, despite hardware problems, software constraints, & the behavior
of people; unless checked by a lack of submissions & reviewers, there's no
reason why our body of Featured Articles couldn't settle into its own
doubling period too.

And if it does happen, then at least few folks in the community will decide
it's not worth throwing a fit over & can talk about how the Wiki Way has
once again solved our problem. But if you want a shitstorm, you can settle
for half of the commentators arguing that Libertarianism proved itself
thru the Bazaar, pace Eric Raymond, & the other half arguing that true
Cyber-Anarchism proved itself thru Pure Communism.

Me? I'll be happy if I can get one freaking article accepted as FAC, whether
it makes it into print or not.

Geoff