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Well, this discussion is quickly moving toward the shortcomings of Wikipedia.

There's plenty of opinion of the deletion-happy (if that's the operative term) policy of the admins, especially as it pertains to notability, and I think this is a common complaint : http://www.highprogrammer.com/alan/rants/wikipedia-delete.ht...

I do something that may seem like trying to fix a leaky dam with chewing gum, but every time I see an article nominated for deletion, I copy the source to a private wiki I'm running. Sometimes, the deletion nomination goes away, other times it does get deleted, but at least then, I have a copy.

But we also have to keep in mind that there are plenty of other resources on the web specifically aimed at niche resources. E.G. Wikia. I've lost count of how many comic book related articles were deleted only to show up on the DC or Marvel wikis. ( http://dc.wikia.com/ http://marvel.wikia.com/ )

Likewise, it's not unreasonable that a lot of content gets missed by the editors, since it's a big place and most editors have one or two areas that they focus on. As the editing guidelines state, when in doubt engage in dispute resolution, not edit wars. If you can make a good case for why an article should be there in the first place, be persuasive in the talk pages.

So a few pointers for people getting angry at Wikipedia:

First, ask whether the article is a good fit for the wiki. Can it go on a blog or a niche wiki (like a dedicated Wikia) instead? The Pokémon example is a bit extreme, but I think many of those pages may get deleted or merged. There's always the Pokémon Wikia : http://pokemon.wikia.com

Second, notability is a very tricky thing. Reputable sources may be even trickier. Rather than debating notability, focus on reputable sources (since that's the biggest hiccup for references). If you can link NY Times articles or BBC or some other news source, rather than just community sites, other blogs (depending on popularity) etc... you'll have a better chance of getting the article/section through and staying there.

Third, well written articles have a better chance of surviving than those that give off the 2-3 paragraph stub vibe. The more reputable citations and best content structure you can give, the better the chances an article survives (this may partly explain the Pokémon pages too). If you have trivia, try to merge it into the content body more, rather than list at the end; that feels tacked on and superfluous, if not directly supporting the main content.

Fourth, try to be a bit more empathetic to the goals of the Wiki while being objective to the subject when asserting your views (especially on controversial articles). How you word things is a big hint as to whether that content will remain or get scrubbed the next day/hour/minute.

Now, I hope can go back to discussing Wikidata and how Wikipedia and everyone else will benefit.



I consider TV Tropes to be the spiritual successor of wikipedia, and what wikipedia should have been, and would encourage people to contribute there instead - even for more "encyclopaedic" topics, its "Useful Notes" articles are often more informative than their wikipedia equivalents. It has an explicit policy of "no such thing as notability".


If you're happy relying on a 3rd party site... I recommend archive.is for keeping records of pages.

http://archive.is/EOZqQ - The Imaginary Theatre ( post deletion obviously :( )




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