[WikiEN-l] Paper is not paper

Wed Oct 5 02:45:17 UTC 2005

On 10/5/05, Anthony DiPierro <wikispam at inbox.org> wrote:
> > So what DOES set the limit to what an encyclopedia can include? It is
> > not any physical characteristic, whether measured in quarto leaves or
> > in bytes.
>
>
> You don't think it has anything to do with the cost of publishing?
>
> The limit to what an encyclopedia can include is governed basically
> > by the available labor of editors to integrate, synthesize, verify,
> > copy-edit, and fact-check.
>
>
> I think you make an excellent point, with regard to the true limit of what
> Wikipedia can include, but I disagree that that carries to what a dead-tree
> encyclopedia can include.

It should not be forgotten that WP costs money too. Everything from
maintaining the servers to purchasing bandwidth to employing Brian.
And entirely sourced from generous donations from the public.

Not that I'm advocating anything here, I'm just pointing out that
while Wiki is not paper there are real physical limits on WP's size
(albeit vastly greater than a traditional encyclopaedia).

--
Stephen Bain
stephen.bain at gmail.com