[Flag] Re: [WikiEN-l] Another AfD example -- a serious proposal to fix it

Sat Jan 21 02:02:05 UTC 2006

On 1/21/06, Travis Mason-Bushman <travis at gpsports-eng.com> wrote:
>
> I would vehemently disagree, especially when among those ten articles
> are hoaxes, thinly veiled attack pages, vanispamcruftvertisements and
> other such content that has the effect of actively making Wikipedia a
> *worse* and *less authoritative* source of information.
>

Why should anyone consider Wikipedia to be authoritative?  It's
written by amateurs.  But I agree that we should get rid of tripe.  
BUt we should discuss it properly.  Jimbo is right, there is far, far
too much emphasis on deletion.

Bad articles can be identified and improved, or if there's nothing
good about them they can be deleted.  But there should be more
emphasis on improvement.  There should be fewer AfD listings carried
to term.  We should encourage editors to seek innovative solutions,
and not fetishize the deletion process.  So often these days it seems
like a fairground ride--once the journey starts you have to keep your
hands inside the car, and mustn't tamper with the deletion proposal. 
Why on earth not? If an article looks like an obvious redirect
candidate, then do it and thank you for saving us five days worth of
debate about deletion.  Any further discussion can continue on the
discussion page.