[Wikipedia-l] Wiki about every person in the world

Sat Nov 19 23:46:15 UTC 2005

On 11/19/05, Anthony DiPierro <wikilegal at inbox.org> wrote:
> On 11/19/05, Ilya N. <ilyanep at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Would you consider an article about plain old Ilyanep who hasn't ever done
> > anything very notable to be encyclopedic?
> >
> > Or how about baby Gary who's 3 months old?
> >
> If you're asking me this you must not know me very well.  Yes, of
> course I would.
>
By the way, I don't think the term notable is very meaningful. 
Clearly we don't require things to be extraordinary in order to
include them in Wikipedia.  For instance, we include every city in the
US, some of which are obviously not extraordinary.  So I really don't
see how the question of notability does anything other than beg the
question.  If something should be included in Wikipedia, then by
definition it is notable.  If something shouldn't be included, then by
definition it is not notable.

As for the term encyclopedic, that term likewise can't possibly be
used in a strict sense.  There is plenty in Wikipedia that never would
appear in a traditional encyclopedia.  However, I do see the term
encyclopedic as having some use, in determining the type of content. 
You wouldn't include an article about a word in an encyclopedia, for
instance (although Wikipedia does include some articles about words, I
believe inappropriately).  But you would include an article about a
person.  So what makes an article on one person encyclopedic but
another non-encyclopedic?  I don't see any reasonable place to draw
the line, so I don't think there should be one drawn at all.