On 14 April 2013 13:28, David Gerard <[email protected]> wrote: > On 14 April 2013 12:24, Charles Matthews > <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Mmm, I remember that mail and whom I suggested ... > > > I didn't see you in that thread ... who were you thinking of?
It was a private reply and explanation about a well-known critic of our BLPs. Water under the bridge. >> I'm still quite deletionist on BLPs because of examples where our >> "rules" are too easy to game. I'm certainly not an anti-stub >> deletionist because that I see as destructive of future growth, and I >> improve many stubs these days. If "passionate" means "nuance-free", >> which is a fair cop much of the time, then I agree with you. > > > I favour James Forrester and Thomas Dalton's arguments here: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg01454.html > > - that Wikipedia started as anything-goes, this was severely cut back > and we're now closer to a nuanced equilibrium. Almost all attempts at writing enWP's history are good (I except the one at Wikimania in DC which was a multi-dimensional trainwreck). I had my pet theory for a few years, that there was too little disruption - which I kept quiet about for several reasons, not the least of which was that I'm unsure of the spelling of Nietzsche at the best of times, but am sure I don't want to be associated with him. Also from a wonkish point of view saying that makes for no useful policy point arising. It mostly harks back to good old days that are really very fictional. We're not yet at a healthy equilibrium. I've used the history in a workshop once, and the editor retention graph shows the need to be thoughtful. It is clear that we moved away from the old-style "What I Know Is" criterion for inclusion quite sharply in 2007. What needs to be explained more clearly is what took its place. I remember saying to Brianna Laugher at the time - she raised the point in Taipei, so was ahead of many of us - that "people who like rules" were displacing the old-school guys. Five years on I'm still hoping for the one-liner that says it better. I produced one for JISC when I was talking to them with Martin Poulter. Either it wasn't really memorable, or I'm having a senior moment and it'll come back to me. Charles _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
