[Wikipedia-l] Encyclopaedias ... how long do their entries need to be???

Sun Oct 8 10:30:00 UTC 2006

This is a theme I always wanted to take up ... so now I wrote what I 
think on my blog and I would like to know your thoughts.

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This is one of these questions. When it comes to wikipedia 
<http://wikipedia.org> many people immediately think about long articles 
about each topic. Considering the multitude of encyclopaedias you can 
find in a book shop one thing is obvious: entries can range from one 
sentence to full pages.

Now people often complain that the encyclopaedias of regional language's 
wikipedias do have many stubs and just some long articles - well: I 
would compare these to the kind of encyclopaedias that give you basic 
information on many topics in just one or two volumes. I would not 
compare them to the big ones like Britannica, Brockhaus etc.

Of course over time you will find single articles that get longer, 
others will remain short for a long time, but ... well ... does it 
really matter? I'd say no - because Wikipedia is not in concurrence with 
anyone to my opinion - people put us into a concurrence position, but we 
are not, because the way each language version is built and works is so 
unique.

Fact is: one can only write about what he/she knows or translate ... 
well being a professional translator I really avoid to translate also in 
my free-time if I don't have to. Not having much time to contribute I 
normally care about the almanac + some stubs related to the almanac ... 
much more is not possible (see the main page 
<http://nap.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paggena_prencepale> of the Neapolitan 
wikipdia for the historical events I normally work on). Another thing I 
of course care about is notions on the city I live in 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maiori> and that in various languages.

Everyone of us editors have something particular they care about ... and 
I believe that is great - and it is exactly what wikipedia is about: 
collecting the knowledge of everybody and put it into one huge 
encyclopaedia.

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Originally posted on: http://sabinecretella.blogspot.com/

Thank you for your time!

Best, Sabine
Chiacchiera con i tuoi amici in tempo reale! 
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