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Britannica Attacks - Nature Returns Fire
An anonymous reader writes "Just in case you missed it, Nature has replied to Britannica's criticism of the Nature Britannica-Wikipedia comparison. I think it is fair to say Nature is not sympathetic to Britannica's complaints." The original piece regarding the accuracy comparison, along with the response from Britannica.
I want to fix the spelling error "comparasion".
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
I want to bring back the OMG Ponies!!! skin. It roxxored.
We can't all get what we want.
I had to RTFM just to make since out of the headline. It would have been nice if they mentioned that Nature was the magazine. I thought there was some disagreement between Britannica and Wikipedia description of nature then Nature herself set Britannica on fire. But it made me RTFM so I guess it worked.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Did Britain reestablish the Empire, increase their greenhouse gas production and get wiped out by a natural desaster? Are two hacker groups accusing each other? Is this some Ultima fan-fiction? What the hell is this story about?
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
It's the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy versus Encyclopedia Galactica all over again...
Not sure that you really want to hold up the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as a paragon of accuracy. Keep in mind that
Entries tend to get updated or not across the Sub-Etha Net according to if they read good.
Take for example, the case of Brequinda on the Foth of Avalars, famed in myth, legend and stultifyingly dull tri-d mini-serieses as home of the magnificent and magical Fuolornis Fire Dragon.
[snip]
Not surprisingly, the Guide's graphically enticing description of the general state of affairs on this planet has proved to be astonishingly popular amongst hitch-hikers who allow themselves to be guided by it, and so it has simply never been taken out, and it is therefore left to latter-day travellers to find out for themselves that today's modern Brequinda in the City State of Avalars is now little more than concrete, strip joints and Dragon Burger Bars.
I can't wait for Britannica's reply to Nature's reply about Britannica's criticism of the Nature Britannica-Wikipedia comparison !
02:57, April 3, 2006 Nature (rv. we've been through this a thousand times already and consensus is against you, so stop doing this) ...or it's "original research" or it's "a self-reference" or whatever your excuse du jour is. Uh uh.)
00:51, April 3, 2006 Britannica (Basic concepts of Review - removed the OR, cleaned up the stating of the word history as spelled out in Terra Incognita)
00:37, April 3, 2006 Nature m (rv
00:14, April 3, 2006 Britannica (removed redundant disambiguation and restated the first sentence. Comparison has ideas but is an activity. See discussion page)
15:48, April 1, 2006 FactsGuy (RV another of Britannica's anti-consensus, POV, ill-written revisions. Britannica, please stop doing this!)
15:12, April 1, 2006 Britannica (Basic concepts of comparison - removed the OR, "may have been inspired by" because that is someone's conjection and OR conclusion and not cited here)
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Wikipedia on Britannica
vs.
Britannica on Wikipedia
Evil sig is livE.
Wikipedia: Almost as good as Britanica without all pseudo-intellecutal pretentions!
Wikipedia: At Least You Can Correct Our Missteaks!
Wikipedia: Suck It, Trebek
Wikipedia: Nature Almost Likes Us!
Wikipedia: 3 out of 4 Slashdotters Prefer Us!
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
Wikipedia should now claim that they came in second in a ranking of online accuracy, while Brittanica came in next to last.
Now all Wikipedia needs to do is to put the words "Don't Panic!" in large, friendly letters on the cover and they are going to completely trash Britannica.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
One of them was concerned that Wikipedia will eventually cause Britannia (and the others) to be pushed out of business and when she does need more and better info than Wikipedia can provide there will be no other sources.
ARRR!!!! England shall prevail! The Union Jack shalt never set down, you miserable liberal hippie scumbag! x-(
Brittanica, the SCO of the encyclopedia world.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Sorry, you lose. :-)