[WikiEN-l] Readers First

Fri Jul 29 09:12:52 UTC 2005

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Haukur Þorgeirsson wrote:
> I agree with the general idea but there
> are some details where I think your proposal
> goes further than is practical. Take this:
> 
> "Try to avoid jargon - but where it is particularly relevant or where it
> is necessary, explain all jargon clearly on the article page - a link to
> another article is not enough."
> 
> Taking 'jargon' to mean 'technical terms' I
> think this is not always practical. Is 'chromosome'
> a technical term? How about 'nucleotide'? I don't
> think it's practical to explain those terms in
> every single molecular biology page where they
> are used. If someone who doesn't understand these
> terms is reading the [[Polymerase Chain Reaction]]
> page chances are she won't understand the context
> anyway - even if the terms were briefly explained.
> 
> Redundant explanations make a page cluttered.
> Short explanations are often imprecise to the
> point of being wrong or not helpful. And one of
> the great advantage of reading Wikipedia (online)
> is the ability to click on technical terms for
> more information.
> 
> Technical terms are (usually) not just a method
> for ivory tower academics to keep the commoner
> out. They're a necessary component of the foundation
> of knowledge in their respective disciplines.
> 
> It's just not practical to explain everything
> from first principles in every single article.
> 
> 

Precisely.

Writing an article which uses technical terms or jargon, afraid that the
average reader won't know what it is, but don't want to explain it right
there and then? Insert square brackets here :)

Conversely: Reading an article which has some strange technical term or
jargon which you don't understand? Provided one exists, click on the
link. No link to click on? Edit the article, insert square brackets,
save, and click on the link.

In short, I think that having to explain every term used in every
article it is used in is a Bad Thing, and doubleplusunwiki.

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