On 10/12/05, David Gerard <dgerard(a)gmail.com> wrote:
OTOH, the general standard goes overboard at times -
any one-sentence
stub even on a subject eminently worthy of coverage tends to get shot
on sight for being a single sentence, even though that's not a
Candidate for Speedy Deletion. I'm not sure what to do about this, and
I'm reluctant to criticise those on the front lines too strongly.
I feel exactly the same: I've monitored RC patrollers and doing that
only gave me more confidence in their general ability to good
judgements.
While I wouldn't wish to criticise these essential front-liners,
perhaps guidance is in order (and this takes us right back to my
original proposal).
Usually the RC patrollers are the first to notice a new editor,
especially an unusual one.
I regret using the A-word. It was ill-judged and surely gave needless
offence. But there are people who show competence, skill,
willingness, courtesy, charm and everything else we'd expect of a good
Wikipedia editor, who nevertheless don't respond with quite the
immediate comprehension and conformity that is appropriate when a
dozen or so people come to them with precisely the same reasonable
complaint--even where reluctance is shown, and defensiveness, this is
all part of a well worn game the rules of which most of us know: a
token resistance, a complaint or two, and then conformity.
There are people who don't untuit those rules, they have to simulate
that processing with their cognitive functions, which are sometimes
quite formidable but don't process information as quickly or as
reliably as instinctive thought. Their behavior may sometimes seem
inappropriate.
And, as you say, there are articles that get deleted for no other
reason than the first person who encounters them thinks a single
sentence cannot possibly convey meaningful information. Poppycock.
RC patrol needs guidance. This is the sharp end, not only in the
fight to keep the wiki healthy, but in recruiting the new editors who
will take our place when we move on to other things. We must expend
thought on coming up with guidelines, or etiquette, for greeting new
editors. Seat-of-pants methods have perhaps outlived their
usefulness.