[Wikipedia-l] Limits to the non-paperiness of Wikipedia?

Mon May 26 17:18:12 UTC 2003

Oliver Pereira wrote:

>Hello,
>
>I was wondering if anyone wanted to give their thoughts on the
>applicability of [[m:Wiki is not paper]] to Wikipedia.
>
>In the section headed "No size limits", someone says it should be okay to
>have pages for every "Simpsons" character, and even pages for every
>episode. This is followed by Jimbo saying, "I agree with this one
>completely."
>
>I take this to mean that there is barely any limit on the triviality of a
>subject that could be allowed to have its own Wikipedia article. With
>apologies to "Simpsons" fans if this is blasphemy... ;) As I interpret it,
>it's saying that pretty much any subject could be covered - within the
>usual constraints of NPOV and verifiability, of course.
>
>So we could include people and events that have not had significant impact
>on a global or even a national level, but which maybe only affected a
>small group of people. As long as there is some coverage in published
>sources, somewhere, we could use that to make an article on the subject.
>
>If this is all terribly wrong, can we come up with a more definite policy,
>saying what the criteria are for an article to be allowed, and amend
>[[m:Wiki is not paper]] and the policy pages accordingly?
>  
>
I've been mentally testing a "thousand-person rule" - anything that has only
ever had a direct conscious effect on fewer than 1,000 people during its 
existence
is too obscure for wikipedia.  So for instance an aircraft carrier makes 
the cut
because it has 5,000 crew, is a player in world events, etc, but a 
tugboat that
was constructed by 100 workers at a shipyard, with a crew of 20, and 
only the
Navy paymaster aware of its continued existence :-), is not important 
enough,
unless it happens to save the damaged carrier by towing it somewhere.

Alternates could be a 100-person rule, although that leaves in 
small-town garden
clubs and the like, seems too broad to me.  A million-person rule would cut
out lots of specialized technical stuff, although lots of pop culture 
would get
to stay, including most likely all of the Simpsons characters. :-)

Stan