Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2007-10-01/In the news

In the news

Jimbo sparks deletion debate

Wikipedia wars erupt - Jimmy Wales created a one-sentence article about a popular gathering spot in South Africa, Mzoli's, which was originally speedily deleted and then taken to AfD. Some accused others of affording a God-like status to the Wikipedia co-founder, while Wales accused his detractors of bad faith. This incident has refocused attention on the debate between quality and quantity, and because the site has just reached the two-million article mark, the article notes that making an original contribution is harder. The debate between inclusionists and deletionists is framed as one between newer members of the project, and older members who understand that some of the deletions they have made are wrong.

Wikipedia's changing culture

Wikipedia's Awkward Adolescence - At Wikipedia's egalitarian foundations, where anyone can edit, lies a contradiction with its status as one of the top ten trafficked websites. Recent events with WikiScanner have shown Wikipedia's weaknesses, but edits by less established editors are likely to be edited out. There is an increasing bureaucratisation of Wikipedia, as exemplified by the use of codes for policy pages, which leaves Wikipedia open to attack in that the right priorities are not being attended to. As a check and balance for administrators, the article proposes a repository of deleted articles. The article suggests that greater accountability, and some competition, may result in better quality.

Other mentions in the news

Other mentions in the online media recently include:

The 8 Most Needlessly Detailed Wikipedia Entries: This is an amusing account of eight long Wikipedia articles, and Anna Kournikova.
The Art of Wikigroaning: Wikigroaning is the sport of finding a "useful" article and then comparing it with a similar-sounding, but "useless" article.
Wikipedia Discredits Reports It's Abandoning Open Editing: Proposals to increase the quality of Wikipedia garner some discussion.

Also this week: — WikiWorld — News and notes — In the news — Features and admins — Technology — Arbitration