[WikiEN-l] Everyone's favorite FUD-master is at it again

Tue Mar 22 03:57:24 UTC 2005

"Damned kids! A horseless carriage is pure nonsense! Dangerous, even!
Why, nobody will ever want to go more than 5 miles an hour! What
foolishness! Horse-and-buggy is here to STAY!"

Sure, Wikipedia has some issues that will never be easily resolved.
But so does every encyclopedia production system -- need I allude to
the troubles of Diderot and d'Alembert?

What's wonderful is the obvious threat he sees to his way of life, the
encyclopedia he cherishes. I mean, if he's right about its inaccuracy,
inconsequentialness, and inherently ridiculous nature, then what's he
got to fear? How's it any worse than any other of the million webpages
out there full of nonsense? Surely if it was so obvious how much
better EB was, he'd have nothing to fear! But all this bravado is
nothing more than howl of a shaken man.

Wikipedia alone isn't behind the problems (current or looming) faced
by print encyclopedia manufacturers. The internet as a whole is behind
that. Wikipedia's just one aspect of a greater shift in the
technologies of communication and representation which makes massive
tomes less likely and makes expensive subscriptions seem unnecessary.
I doubt print encyclopedias will go the way of the dinosaurs, but I
can understand their dis-ease. The die has been cast -- their
authority has been questioned and directly challenged by a legion of
people willing to work for nothing at all. It's an understandable
concern, but it's far too late at this point.

FF

On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 07:05:21 -0500, Mark Pellegrini
<mapellegrini at comcast.net> wrote:
> Everyone's favorite FUD-master is at it again ---
> http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0503200191mar20,1,26199.story?coll=chi-techtopheds-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
> /
> /*...*
> / A similar hyperbole surrounds such projects as the Wikipedia, a free
> online encyclopedia open to all. The Wikipedia's apologists emphasize
> the great number of volunteers who have taken part in the project and
> the number of entries they have contributed. They emphasize also the
> communal nature of the undertaking, in which anyone with a better
> understanding of a subject, or a bigger ax to grind, can edit what
> someone else has created. Their prime article of faith is that this
> openness will inevitably lead to a high level of accuracy and quality.
> ...
>  ----------
> Robert McHenry is former editor of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and is
> the author of "How to Know."
> 
> /This is the same guy who called us the Faith-based encyclopedia and
> compared us to a public toilet-
> http://www.techcentralstation.com/111504A.html
> 
> --Mark
> 
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