[Wikipedia-l] A Solution to Larry Sanger's Criticisms - Project Has Been Around For A While

Wed Jan 5 11:40:22 UTC 2005

On Jan 5, 2005, at 2:28 AM, Andre Engels wrote:
> This seems to be exactly the problem Larry Sanger talks about - We
> don't care whether somebody is a renowned expert on a subject or has
> just read a few lines related to a subject in the past. If they can
> write it down, we consider them equal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocracy_%28bureaucratic%29

Certainly, a lack of expertise is a problem in managing fine details, 
but it does not require an expert in aviation to add to a wikipedia 
article that 'Air Force One is a plane'. The  problem I think, is not 
the insertion of facts by non-experts, but the use of (or omission of) 
facts by POV folks to drive a given agenda.

> A second fallacy I see in this message is that it equates factual
> correctness with credibility. There's more than just factual
> correctness to make a good article, there is also balance. Getting
> experts is not what helps here (although it helps a bit, because they
> are supposed to know about the subject, and thus notice missing
> portions), but we should recognize the problem as being one.

My older brother despises some wikipedia sections that are written in 
his field (cultural anthropology, with specific emphasis on the paiute 
people), as he is an expert in that specific area, and finds the 
articles "shallow", "without depth and nuance", and "lacking in a 
deeper explanation". They are written by "non-experts", and thus make 
"factual and comprehension errors".

The articles are also written for *use* by non-experts.... So, I asked 
my brother how many pages it would take to correct the errors, and he 
pointed me towards his latest body of work, over 500 pages, and that's 
just the historical *sites* of the paiute.

So, what is wikipedia? Is it *meant* to be the equivalent of an 
encyclopedia, with terse explanations? Is it meant to be a vast 
repository of all that is known, without omissions of fact, or 
omissions of a given POV?

-Bop