Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Drafts/Thinking deeper

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This is a draft of a potential Signpost article, and should not be interpreted as a finished piece. Its content is subject to review by the editorial team and ultimately by JPxG, the editor in chief. Please do not link to this draft as it is unfinished and the URL will change upon publication. If you would like to contribute and are familiar with the requirements of a Signpost article, feel free to be bold in making improvements!

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Y ... has a title defined.
Philosophical bridges #1 and 2
Y ... has a blurb defined.
Cross, burn, build.
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N ... has not yet been copyedited.
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deadlines

Writing: 17 November 00:00 (10 days left; 90%)

Publishing: 18 November 00:00 (11 days left; 91%)

There are 9 days, 19 hours, 17 minutes and 52 seconds until deadline. (refresh)

Last revised 20:08, 3 June 2023 (UTC) (17 months ago) by JPxG (refresh)

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Thinking deeper

Philosophical bridges #1 #2

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By FacetsOfNonStickPans

There are philosophical bridges and there are Wikipedians. There may be bridges that some Wikipedians stand in front of, bridges we may never face. In turn, we may have philosophical bridges, which others may never face. Which bridge will you cross before you come to it? Which bridge will you cross only when you get there? Which bridge will you burn. Which philosophical bridge would you lend a hand to build, and leave for others to contemplate?

The first bridge

Wikipedian Feuilleter created an anonymous user account in AD 2020. In AD 2100, 80 years later, Feuilleter still edits. In AD 2140, Feuilleter still edits. The user has edited for 120 years. Feuilleter has become the longest user of Wikipedia continuing to make edits to articles. More people start guessing the age of Feuilleter. Say the user started editing at age 20. That would make the user 140 years old. There are 100,000 people above that age. Another year passes. There are 50,000 people with the probable age. A group of people decide to find these 50,000. No one is a Wikipedian. Another year passes and Feuilleter still edits. WMF requests Feuilleter to explain themself. The account isn't a sock, that was established decades ago. All the rules check out. Numerous other mechanisms find no fault. There is no location. Another year passes and Feuilleter still edits. Feuilleter has crossed the oldest person alive. Another year passes and Wikipedian Feuilleter still edits.

The second bridge

The year is 2060. There are 50,000 featured articles. Some discussions have been held in the previous decades. These discussions surround this milestone. And the ground work has been laid. A new article mainspace is created. Blank pages. No text. No categorization. The original articles are retained and can be edited as usual. How long would it take for the new FAs, the FA rebirths for want of a better phrase, to reach FA status again? Would a third fresh start, a third rebirth, be needed? Or is the single mainspace we have now the only eternal?

Do you have any philosophical bridges on Wikipedia?