|
Vanity of Article Writers, ...a time to cast away stones |
|
|
|
|
Replies
LuÃs Henrique |
|
Member
Group: Contributors
Posts: 115
Joined:
Member No.: 10,560
|
QUOTE(Emperor @ Wed 11th March 2009, 1:46pm) For a while I made it a game to pick apart the featured article of the day. It wasn't all that difficult to find glaring errors, if I already knew something about the subject. For topics where I had no prior knowledge, Wikipedia articles seemed perfectly plausible. But isn't this part of the problem? When I read an article about, say, Thailand, or the proccess of refining iron ore, or emphysema, I wonder whether they actually make any sence, as it superficially seems, or if they are full of lies, pranks, urban legends, fantasies, like those about subjects I have some actual knowledge. LuÃs Henrique
|
|
|
|
Milton Roe |
|
Known alias of J. Random Troll
Group: Regulars
Posts: 10,209
Joined:
Member No.: 5,156
|
QUOTE(LuÃs Henrique @ Wed 11th March 2009, 3:10pm) But isn't this part of the problem?
When I read an article about, say, Thailand, or the proccess of refining iron ore, or emphysema, I wonder whether they actually make any sence, as it superficially seems, or if they are full of lies, pranks, urban legends, fantasies, like those about subjects I have some actual knowledge.
LuÃs Henrique
Sure, but you have that problem about most of what you learn in life, since you're hardly ever going to able to get your summaries directly from the greatest experts in the world, Charlie Rose style (how I envy that man his job). In the real world, gaining most knowledge is sort of like learning a new word in your vocabulary. You hear it once, this perfectly cromulent word, but you've never heard it before. Still from the way it's used, you begin to have some idea of what it means. As it's used more and more, you realize that your ignorance does not mean it wasn't cromulent, it must means YOU hadn't encountered it. But now you're aware of it. Studies show that when 3 year-olds are exposed to an articificial word, it only takes about 5 usages for them to hone in on its meaning pretty well, and that they do it rather like tracking an animal by scent. It doesn't start out perfect, but descends through the categories, until they nail it. Again, in the real world, you don't get to find out about iron ore refining from the bored steelworker sitting next to you on some transoceanic flight on which he wants to talk. Instead, you sort of need to know, don't have access to the net, and so you ask the people around you: "Know anything about iron ore refining"? And you get back something like: "A little. I dunno how they get the dirt out, but I know they have to take the iron oxide, mix it with coke in big furnace, and heat the blazes out of it till the carbon takes out the oxygen and molten iron is left. Then they blow pure oxygen through to get rid of more carbon, to get steel." So you still have an incomplete picture, but you know more than you did. Later you find the thing is self-heating and is called a blast furnace. And you learn out they get the dirt out, and so on and so on. That's Wikipedia, too. In some ways, as has been said by many people, one problem is that we expect too much of Wikipedia. If we could just fix the vandalism and defamation, we'd be left with sort of what you get from a very large roomful of decent, random people on any subject. And that's no small thing. It's bound to beat hell out of what you "know" just on your own.
|
|
|
|
Jon Awbrey |
|
Ï„á½° δΠμοι παθήματα μαθήματα γÎγονε
Group: Moderators
Posts: 6,783
Joined:
From: Meat Puppet Nation
Member No.: 5,619
|
QUOTE(Milton Roe @ Wed 11th March 2009, 6:43pm) QUOTE(LuÃs Henrique @ Wed 11th March 2009, 3:10pm) But isn't this part of the problem?
When I read an article about, say, Thailand, or the proccess of refining iron ore, or emphysema, I wonder whether they actually make any sence, as it superficially seems, or if they are full of lies, pranks, urban legends, fantasies, like those about subjects I have some actual knowledge.
LuÃs Henrique
Sure, but you have that problem about most of what you learn in life, since you're hardly ever going to able to get your summaries directly from the greatest experts in the world, Charlie Rose style (how I envy that man his job). In the real world, gaining most knowledge is sort of like learning a new word in your vocabulary. You hear it once, this perfectly cromulent word, but you've never heard it before. Still from the way it's used, you begin to have some idea of what it means. As it's used more and more, you realize that your ignorance does not mean it wasn't cromulent, it must means YOU hadn't encountered it. But now you're aware of it. Studies show that when 3 year-olds are exposed to an articificial word, it only takes about 5 usages for them to hone in on its meaning pretty well, and that they do it rather like tracking an animal by scent. It doesn't start out perfect, but descends through the categories, until they nail it. Again, in the real world, you don't get to find out about iron ore refining from the bored steelworker sitting next to you on some transoceanic flight on which he wants to talk. Instead, you sort of need to know, don't have access to the net, and so you ask the people around you: "Know anything about iron ore refining"? And you get back something like: "A little. I dunno how they get the dirt out, but I know they have to take the iron oxide, mix it with coke in big furnace, and heat the blazes out of it till the carbon takes out the oxygen and molten iron is left. Then they blow pure oxygen through to get rid of more carbon, to get steel." So you still have an incomplete picture, but you know more than you did. Later you find the thing is self-heating and is called a blast furnace. And you learn out they get the dirt out, and so on and so on. That's Wikipedia, too. In some ways, as has been said by many people, one problem is that we expect too much of Wikipedia. If we could just fix the vandalism and defamation, we'd be left with sort of what you get from a very large roomful of decent, random people on any subject. And that's no small thing. It's bound to beat hell out of what you "know" just on your own. Tagged for Web Searches under • Koolaid Kontact Kontagion •
|
|
|
|
Milton Roe |
|
Known alias of J. Random Troll
Group: Regulars
Posts: 10,209
Joined:
Member No.: 5,156
|
QUOTE(Jon Awbrey @ Wed 11th March 2009, 4:17pm) QUOTE(Milton Roe @ Wed 11th March 2009, 6:43pm) QUOTE(LuÃs Henrique @ Wed 11th March 2009, 3:10pm) But isn't this part of the problem?
When I read an article about, say, Thailand, or the proccess of refining iron ore, or emphysema, I wonder whether they actually make any sence, as it superficially seems, or if they are full of lies, pranks, urban legends, fantasies, like those about subjects I have some actual knowledge.
LuÃs Henrique
Sure, but you have that problem about most of what you learn in life, since you're hardly ever going to able to get your summaries directly from the greatest experts in the world, Charlie Rose style (how I envy that man his job). In the real world, gaining most knowledge is sort of like learning a new word in your vocabulary. You hear it once, this perfectly cromulent word, but you've never heard it before. Still from the way it's used, you begin to have some idea of what it means. As it's used more and more, you realize that your ignorance does not mean it wasn't cromulent, it must means YOU hadn't encountered it. But now you're aware of it. Studies show that when 3 year-olds are exposed to an articificial word, it only takes about 5 usages for them to hone in on its meaning pretty well, and that they do it rather like tracking an animal by scent. It doesn't start out perfect, but descends through the categories, until they nail it. Again, in the real world, you don't get to find out about iron ore refining from the bored steelworker sitting next to you on some transoceanic flight on which he wants to talk. Instead, you sort of need to know, don't have access to the net, and so you ask the people around you: "Know anything about iron ore refining"? And you get back something like: "A little. I dunno how they get the dirt out, but I know they have to take the iron oxide, mix it with coke in big furnace, and heat the blazes out of it till the carbon takes out the oxygen and molten iron is left. Then they blow pure oxygen through to get rid of more carbon, to get steel." So you still have an incomplete picture, but you know more than you did. Later you find the thing is self-heating and is called a blast furnace. And you learn out they get the dirt out, and so on and so on. That's Wikipedia, too. In some ways, as has been said by many people, one problem is that we expect too much of Wikipedia. If we could just fix the vandalism and defamation, we'd be left with sort of what you get from a very large roomful of decent, random people on any subject. And that's no small thing. It's bound to beat hell out of what you "know" just on your own. Tagged for Web Searches under • Kontact Koolaid Kontagion •Truth hurts, don't it, Jon? (IMG: smilys0b23ax56/default/tongue.gif) (IMG: smilys0b23ax56/default/tongue.gif)
|
|
|
|
Posts in this topic
GlassBeadGame Vanity of Article Writers Samuel Culper Sr. Can't fully agree. Unless you think there is ... Malleus
For a while I made it a game to pick apart the fe... Kato
The problem is that the FA and GA forums are over... Milton Roe
[quote name='Milton Roe' post='160836' date='Wed ... Jon Awbrey
[quote name='Jon Awbrey' post='160848' date='Wed ... LuÃs Henrique It's bound to beat hell out of what you ... Milton Roe
[quote name='Milton Roe' post='160825' date='Wed ... Emperor
When I read an article about, say, Thailand, or t... LuÃs Henrique
[quote name='LuÃs Henrique' post='160817' date... Peter Damian
I have been struck lately by the growing smugness... UseOnceAndDestroy This point gets buried a lot in the noise of BLP a... EricBarbour Want to help your kid find out why salt melts ice ... Eva Destruction
And nobody can even make up a vague statistic of ... EricBarbour
[quote name='EricBarbour' post='160821' date='Wed... Eva Destruction
That's very nice. Who devised these statistic... Sarcasticidealist I'd agree that the overall quality of Wikipedi... Milton Roe
Wikipedia is most useful not when it's a subs... Jon Awbrey
[quote name='Sarcasticidealist' post='160778' dat... Skinny87 As an article writer, and an FA contributor, I do... UseOnceAndDestroy
I'd agree that wikipedia isn't the font o... Sarcasticidealist It's a recurring wikipedian myth to position w... Somey [quote name='UseOnceAndDestroy' post='160812' date... Cla68 The more interesting question, to me, is whether W... MBisanz
Someone who used to be involved with the WMF emai... Obesity Give it a rest, GBG. FA writers are the last plac... Kato
People like you and others I won't mention se... Obesity
That could apply to almost anything. Even Fox New... GlassBeadGame I assure you that most of the "best" wr... Obesity
Glad you found your own little piece of heaven on... Cla68 Doubtless, GBG had no intention for this thread to... EricBarbour
Doubtless, GBG had no intention for this thread t... GlassBeadGame
Give it a rest, GBG. FA [i]writers are the last ... Bottled_Spider Must I drag out my favorite article once again as ... Jon Awbrey And if only Hitler had been a 3rd rate painter ins... LuÃs Henrique
And if only Hitler had been a 3rd rate painter in... Bottled_Spider [quote name='Jon Awbrey' post='160888' date='Thu 1... Jon Awbrey
If we had Wikipedia in the twenties of the XX Cen... LuÃs Henrique Why do people keep buying the premiss that Wikiped... Jon Awbrey
[quote name='Jon Awbrey' post='160929' date='Thu ... LuÃs Henrique Tagged for Web Searches under • Blinded By T... Moulton Why do people keep buying the premiss that Wikiped... Jon Awbrey
[quote name='Jon Awbrey' post='160929' date='Thu ... Guido den Broeder
Why do people keep buying the premiss that Wikipe... GlassBeadGame Here's a glorious FA, 4chan. It's not jus... Casliber I hate the idea of splitting wikis..MBZ has a poin...
1 User(s) are reading this topic (1 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)
0 Members:
| |