-----Original Message----- From: Daniel P. B. Smith [mailto:dpbsmith@verizon.net] Sent: 16 September 2005 11:09 AM To: wikien-l(a)Wikipedia.org Subject: [WikiEN-l] Topic warriors We all know about "POV warriors." I'm fortunate or wimpy enough not to have been involved in articles with serious long-standing POV wars, but my impression is that _for the most part_ these things seem to stay under reasonable control. On the other hand, I think we are developing "topic warriors" who feel that a specific subject area deserves very detailed coverage, systematically watch VfD for any cases where articles on their pet topic are nominated for deletion, and oppose deletion of _any_ article on their topic on principle, regardless of the quality of the article. Unlike POV, a relatively small number of topic warriors CAN effectively achieve their goal. (And, of course, they are assisted by Wikipedians who do _not_ accept the premise that "Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information.") NOTE NOTE NOTE ---> topic wars are FAR, FAR less damaging to Wikipedia and FAR less of a concern than POV wars. Some Wikipedians undoubtedly feel that topic wars do not damage Wikipedia at all. My feeling is that they do, because they deliberately _create_ systemic bias, and create an area in which the average quality of the articles is lower than the rest of Wikipedia. They certainly damage the Wikipedia community by factionalizing it, creating an "us versus them" mentality, and, in some cases, publicly gloating over their "success." -- Daniel P. B. Smith, dpbsmith(a)verizon.net "Elinor Goulding Smith's Great Big Messy Book" is now back in print! Sample chapter at http://world.std.com/~dpbsmith/messy.html Buy it at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1403314063/