User:Sandpiper
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hello. Came across this encyclopedia and realising how it works decided to join in. An interesting thought that anyone who wants to look something up in an encyclopedia probably does already know something about it.
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[edit] Concerning Politics…
Since I have made some comments on political pages I felt I should say something about my own standpoint. I have never belonged to any political party, never stood for elected office, nor in any way been employed as an advisor or lobbyist. On the other hand, I have voted in every election for which I have been eligible. I have written from time to time in my own right to governments about issues of the day. I doubt they pay much attention to such letters, but I feel perhaps they weigh the piles of paper on either side of the debate. I am a confirmed tactical voter. My normal inclination is to vote Liberal Democrat, mostly because in the very remote chance that they might win, at least it would be a change. I have also voted Labour and Conservative. More seriously, I consider electing anyone into the house of commons who is not tied to one of the main parties is highly desirable. I would be very pleased to see the house of Lords reformed to election by some form of proportional representation. The recent labour changes from entry by accident of birth to entry mainly by government appointment do not seem to me to be an improvement. At least no one can be certain that the heir to a title will turn out to support a particular party.
[edit] Concerning Wiki….
I have been here long enough now to start to get some idea of how this place works. It is quite extraordinary. There are a huge number of articles, and generally a tiny number of people concerning themselves about any one. Well, all and good. Little spats going on all the time as people argue about articles. I have watched as real tussles break out, but even what some people here consider the hardest and most intractable cases, still manage to produce articles which creep forward with improvements. A real dogfight can be the making of an article, it would seem.
What concerns me more is the really very small number of people who ever get concerned in any single decision. And some of them are quite serious. Three people having a debate between them can suddenly create a turn in ‘policy’, which is used to drastically change wiki. Consensus is then imposed on many more than ever took part in the deciding of that consensus. The highest number of people who become concerned with even the deepest issue seems to be around 100. Perhaps because there seems to be an inordinate demand for haste. Frequently people seem to want to make a decision before a significant number of people have time to notice that something is happening. There seems to be a small number of editors who see it as their business to make the rules for all those who are actually writing the encyclopedia behind their backs.
[edit] My Pet Hate…
NOR and cite sources. I have read enough wiki articles, and seen a few reviews by outsiders to notice that what wiki lacks is OPINION. A traditional encyclopedia would contain opinions where that was appropriate to the subject. Arts, literature, fashion, areas where subjective views are expected, are not dealt with well on wiki. It is far too easy for someone who hates a particular subject to come along and trash a perfectly good article on a subject where there is no real right answer, by claiming NOR and deleting the lot. This is a failing. Any article is better than no article. References are nice, alternative sources which someone can consult to get a different opinion are very nice. But these policies are used to police wiki and maintain order, rather than to nudge editors in the right direction. They are a stick which can be used to make articles worse as well as better.
[edit] My wish list?
That someone will sort out a rating system so that we can tell the public how good we think a particular article is. People using wiki need to understand that articles can be very variable in quality, and we ought to have a means of telling them if we think the article they are reading is a good one, or not.
