New at Reason

May 30, 2007

In the cover story from reason's June issue, Katherine Mangu-Ward traverses the web, the future, and suburban Florida with Wikipedia guru Jimmy Wales.

Comments

|5.30.07 @ 12:50PM|#

Just to nip any rumors in the bud, I'm not Jimmy Wales...

After all, he's geeky, and, as I do, lives in central Florida...didn't want any confusion :)

Paul|5.30.07 @ 2:22PM|#

Wikipedia's flexibility allows anyone who stumbles on an error to correct it quickly.

This could also be written:

Wikipedia's flexibility allows anyone who stumbles on a correct fact to vandalize it quickly.

|5.30.07 @ 2:58PM|#

I despise the new "no trivia" policy. You don't need disclamers on sites with 2 or three little additions of trivia, adding intresting information that won't fit into anywhere else in the article.

|5.30.07 @ 3:08PM|#

jimmydageek,

He's in St. Pete, right?

Paul|5.30.07 @ 3:37PM|#

I despise the new "no trivia" policy. You don't need disclamers on sites with 2 or three little additions of trivia

Wha? I thought that it was "open"? Who enforces this policy?

|5.30.07 @ 3:41PM|#

It's weird and I don't fully understand it, but as far as I understand it is an unoffical policy that has it's own tag or something.
I've done my part and been removing the "no trivia" tag whenever I see it doesn't belong.

|5.30.07 @ 3:42PM|#

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:TRIVIA

|5.30.07 @ 4:05PM|#

"Lists of miscellaneous information can be useful for developing a new article, as it sets a low bar for novice contributors to add information without having to keep in mind article organization or presentation - just tack a new fact on to the list. However, as articles grow, these lists become increasingly disorganized and difficult to read. It is ideal to provide a logical grouping and ordering of facts that gives an integrated presentation providing context and smooth transitions. Furthermore, some items may add an unwanted distraction from the article, and the existence of a section for miscellaneous information may encourage the addition or re-addition of unwanted items."

This policy I understand; in the past some article's trivia section took up half the page and sometimes was completely inane. (I remember there was this one bit of "trivia" on the Scrubs main page that basicly described an entire episode). But they take it too far for articles that only have two or three pieces writen on the trivia section. Take this page, for example;

|5.30.07 @ 4:24PM|#

ProLib!!

Yes, St. Pete.

How's the baby? and the missus? Well, I hope!

|5.30.07 @ 4:36PM|#

jimmydageek,

Everything is great. There's an Urkobold announcement about the event, too.

|5.30.07 @ 4:48PM|#

Great!! I'll have to check out Urkobold when I get home...

Congrats!!