Slashdot Mirror


After 244 Years, the End For the Dead Tree Encyclopedia Britannica

Rick Zeman writes "According to the New York Times, it's the end of the road for the printed Encyclopedia Brittanica, saying, '...in recent years, print reference books have been almost completely wiped out by the Internet and its vast spread of resources, particularly Wikipedia, which in 11 years has helped replace the authority of experts with the wisdom of the crowds.' The last print edition will be the 32-volume 2010 edition."

14 of 373 comments (clear)

  1. Bad Joke by Kaenneth · · Score: 5, Funny

    How did the hipster burn his mouth?

    He ate pizza before it was cool.

    1. Re:Bad Joke by interkin3tic · · Score: 4, Funny

      How many hipsters does it take to screw in a lightbulb.

      (waits for you to answer)

      No, it's some obscure number you probably haven't heard of yet.

  2. Re:Losing A Snapshot Of History by evilviper · · Score: 3, Funny

    You can go download a copy of wikipedia right now. Stick it on a dvd, throw it in some dark corner, and come back in 10 years.

    --
    Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  3. 12,000 years from now... by ZorinLynx · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Scientists have been wondering why historical records mysteriously ended sometime around the year 2012. It's as if humanity decided to just stop writing things down, and left everything to oral tradition. It's sad that we will never know what happened between then and the eventua downfall of one of the greatest ancient civilizations that ever lived."

    1. Re:12,000 years from now... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Scientists have been wondering why historical records mysteriously ended sometime around the year 2012. It's as if humanity decided to just stop writing things down, and left everything to oral tradition.

      Too bad they'll never know the truth...all our knowledge disappeared because we put it in the cloud.

  4. Re:Citable by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Funny

    The bottom line is that Wikipedia isn't written by experts, or for the large part by people who have expertise in *any* field, and for topics outside CS and parts of the sciences, it's pretty poor because non-expert "crowds" don't have much judgment. In short-- there's no wisdom in crowds, only amplified ignorance.

    That's simply not true. Wikipedia's articles on manga and anime characters are second to none.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  5. slashdot setting help needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I can't find the setting to show the thread scores. And YES MUTHAFUCKERS, I've looked everywhere.

    1. Re:slashdot setting help needed by voidphoenix · · Score: 3, Funny

      I can't find the setting to show the thread scores. And YES MUTHAFUCKERS, I've looked everywhere.

      Did you check the Britannica? ;p

  6. George Orwell would approve by 517714 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Lacking written records certainly facilitates revisionist history. I just read online that Encyclopedia Britannica stopped putting out printed editions over 25 years ago. So how is this news? ;-)

    --
    The US government have made it clear that we have no inalienable rights; any we do not defend vigorously will be taken.
  7. Re:Yeah... by ToiletBomber · · Score: 4, Funny

    OVER 9000!

  8. Re:endurance egghead pukes amplified ignorance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    >For all the rest, amplified ignorance is vastly superior to no signal at all.

    In the same way that a randomly generated map of a minefield is vastly superior to no map at all. LOL What a vapid argument.

  9. Re:Yeah... by brentrad · · Score: 3, Funny

    You can probably find the answer to that question on wikipedia.

  10. Re:The ultimate hipster edition by Scoldog · · Score: 4, Funny

    Really? I would have thought a couple of copies of Dean's Electronics and the Big Book of Science would be handy to have stored somewhere safe. Everyone should buy as many copies as they can lay their hands on, and leave them scattered around your home towns to maximise the amount of books that will survive.

    --
    This space for rent
  11. Re:Citable by jaymemaurice · · Score: 3, Funny

    I must side with the guy with the real name clearly this adds to his credibility, and the wikipedia article on credibility will agree with me when I edit it and cite this slashdot post.

    --
    120 characters ought to be enough for anyone