Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Interesting Debates on Wikipedia

Even though Wikipedia is supposedly not a reliable source for information, it can be endlessly entertaining. This weekend I came across a post with a link to a typical day’s deletion log on the peoples’ encyclopedia. If you follow this link follow this link it will take you to a page where the merits of the following 128 articles are debated for inclusion or exclusion from Wiki. I am assuming this is one day’s log. Or a sliver of it. I found item 35, List of Fictional Psychopaths and Sociopaths, especially interesting. But you should follow your own ambitions here.

• 1 Keepers of the Light
• 2 Dating of the Exodus
• 3 Melvin Ezell Gorham
• 4 M.R.Sreenath
• 5 Lakewood Commons
• 6 Scott Newton (Mississippi politician)
• 7 Mehul Patel
• 8 Aquaretics
• 9 List of Utah county seats
• 10 Cameron Tate
• 11 History (Tenacious D song)
• 12 Songa Mercur
• 13 Jacques Dallaire
• 14 Ormskirk Heelers
• 15 Ole Henriksen
• 16 Nelle Wilson Reagan
• 17 Will He Wish
• 18 Tizzy's Dragon
• 19 The Dead Report Podcast
• 20 Jennifer D. Smith
• 21 Nobu stowe
• 22 Corpse flip (skateboarding)
• 23 Uncle Gamer Radio
• 24 Yeek
• 25 Crowz
• 26 Megabeat
• 27 Arash Markazi
• 28 NZPWI Invitational
• 29 Down the throat
• 30 George Galloway's appearance on Celebrity Big Brother
• 31 Fat and Obese People Who Are Either Gay or Lesbian
• 32 Sara Thornton
• 33 Adam Beason
• 34 Mulgarath
• 35 List of fictional psychopaths and sociopaths
• 36 Bearcat Heavy Fighter
• 37 11th and 7th millennium BC
• 38 Bart Hendrikx
• 39 Malang International Airport
• 40 List of teen idols of the 2000s
• 41 Let's Swing Again
• 42 Pakistani lawyers rankings
• 43 Eeyore (song)
• 44 Carolyn Howard-Johnson
• 45 Richard Lawrence (attorney)
• 46 Pea shake
• 47 Coral Calcium Claims
• 48 Eliza Allen
• 49 Shawn Schmieder
• 50 Charles Strickland (General Superintendent)
• 51 Broad Street (Red Bank, New Jersey)
• 52 NCR FastLane
• 53 Anwat gar
• 54 MSTS: Dorset Coast
• 55 Kane and The Big Show
• 56 Fingerskate
• 57 Felony Records
• 58 Carroll Center for the Blind
• 59 Animalism (personal identity)
• 60 Carmelo Bertolami
• 61 International islamic relief organization
• 62 Guillaume Dasquié
• 63 Kryptonite (Mario song)
• 64 LED_circuit
• 65 Tornado myths
• 66 Icrossing
• 67 Sting: Moment of Truth
• 68 Twingine
• 69 Brion Vibber
• 70 Ogmo
• 71 Zlango
• 72 AFL 08
• 73 Fabuolous G
• 74 Red Hand of Doom
• 75 Tasos Kostas
• 76 Omair Sana Welfare Foundation (OSWF)
• 77 Star Trek: Starfleet Command: Orion Pirates
• 78 Yubiwa
• 79 List of unproduced Toho kaiju
• 80 Destiny's Child Fifth Studio Album
• 81 Hangzhou Xiaoshan Sports Centre
• 82 Salvador Fernandes Zarco
• 83 Della woods racing
• 84 Jamie Smith (soldier)
• 85 Janette Geri
• 86 École du Pacifique
• 87 Terry Alan
• 88 Mycon
• 89 Edgewood High School (Indiana)
• 90 Indianhead Mountain
• 91 Indian cricket team in Bangladesh in 2007-08
• 92 Courtland Center
• 93 Sorenson companies
• 94 Neil Wilkes
• 95 Towne Mall
• 96 Uniontown Mall
• 97 Mary Burns
• 98 Group of 88
• 99 Proposal
• 100 Rose Whipperr
• 101 Yook
• 102 Coombabah State Primary School
• 103 Hampshire Mall
• 104 Calpop
• 105 Mountain Farms Mall
• 106 60 Seconds (webshow)
• 107 Lakeshore Mall
• 108 Winklefisting
• 109 Floydian Slips
• 110 Whitehawk Studios
• 111 Card shark
• 112 Deceased crab
• 113 Strictly American Movement
• 114 La Vergne High School
• 115 The Alien Mind
• 116 Charles and Virginia de Gravelles
• 117 Frederick L. Frazier
• 118 Snooth
• 119 Tessa Horst
• 120 Niwa Kawamoto
• 121 TuneDNA
• 122 JJ Finley Elementary School
• 123 Yippi
• 124 Same Difference (Duo)
• 125 YouTube TV Channel
• 126 Edward Kennedy (journalist)
• 127 Moon Tower
• 128 Flatout toys
Now we know the meaning of "trivial pursuits." Which on was your favorite?
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2 comments:

  1. Carolyn Howard-JohnsonDecember 22, 2009 at 9:56 PM

    Sorry, but I don't see how passing out and passing on Wikipedia's pronouncements is necessarily a good thing.

    As an example, my original Wikipedia page was accepted. Then deleted. You might want to look it up the reasons why. When I found them (quite some time ago) the reasons were thus: Apparently they thought my mention by the Pasadena Weekly not worthy because it's a paper of no consequence. Something about its being merely regional. And my award from members of the California Legislature was not acceptable because it could not be "confirmed" on the Web. I was not notified for a rebuttal and I have a hunk of crystal the size of your forearm and picture to prove the latter. I have clippings to prove the former. Of course, the clippings would be of no consequence because The Pasadena Weekly, a paper that has been around a long, long time and is respected in a community of several hundred thousand is not, according to these lay "experts," to be trusted.

    Please keep in mind that the "editors" of Wikipedia are just folk like you and me. They bring their individual biases including a sense of fairness (or one of self importance) to their jobs. They should be congratulated for being willing to give freely of their time. Having said that, in a perfect world (or Website) power should be accompanied by responsibility.

    Best to you all. Wikipedia lovers and those who are no enamoured a like. (-:

    Carolyn Howard-Johnson

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ed NewmanDecember 23, 2009 at 9:52 AM

    Carolyn,
    Thanks for the cautionary note. I shared this link because I thought these grottos of arcane trivia were fascinating in the amount of activity behind the scenes.

    As regards Wikipedia, I totally agree with you that it is not reliable, has amateurs like you and I making decisions that some take as Gospel and that many biases are therein.

    I myself find it useful when looking up details of a general nature like demographics on a Third World country or bios of historical figures. But I know many articles have been written about the agendas that sometimes skew dialogue.

    I totally affirm your comment, "Power should be accompanied by responsibility."

    thanks for the note.
    ed

    ReplyDelete