[WikiEN-l] Fwd: Google Alert - Wikipedia

Tue Nov 22 08:53:23 UTC 2005

"Andrew Gray"  wrote

>As you say, there's no quick answer... and by the time we've got one, god
only knows what else the project will have developed into.

I would say that Wikipedia itself (as distinct from its Wikimedia sister 
projects) has found its niche.  We Wikipedians have by now a pretty good 
idea of its strengths and weaknesses.  On the plus side: good at documenting 
factual things and gluing them into an intensely-hyperlinked and 
presentable, categorised form, miles ahead of the 'web directory' approach. 
Particularly strong at rehashing what is already out there to be googled, or 
in the mainstream media.  Weaknesses: always been over-ambitious and 
searching for a style, rather than already possessed of one.  To call WP's 
role a 'niche' is a bit like calling the [[Mariana Trench]] a shallow ditch, 
though.  The Web contains things like 'shopping mall', 'personal webspace', 
'blogosphere'.  Wikipedia is the cuckoo in the nest of the 'wikisphere', 
certainly to the extent of redefining it.

Charles 