Our Love/Hate Relationship With Wikipedia

netbuzz points us to a somewhat snarky Washington Post article about the Wikipedians' work in upholding a minimum standard of "notability" for the collaborative encyclopedia. Here's his take on the Post's bemusement from a NetworkWorld blog: "The Washington Post this morning gets its snickers at the Wikipedians who do the best they can to apply the minimum 'notability' standards needed to keep the online encyclopedia's 1.5 million English entries relatively free of worthless junk. 'It's also safe to assume these are people with a lot of time on their hands,' the Post writer notes... These are people doing a truly thankless job... and they deserve a few thank-yous."

Comments

Shit Casserole

[Brandybuck]

These are people doing a truly thankless job... and they deserve a few thank-yous

Like a shit casserole, the thanklessness of the job is irrelevant. The good intentions of a chef cannot overcome the poor choice of ingredients. In the case of Wikipedia, the poor choice was in an anarchic methodology that assumes a consensus of anonymity can product accuracy.