enjoying Wikipedia
July 28, 2009 4:22 AM Subscribe
Best of Wikipedia: A twice-daily updated collection of some of the best reading on Wikipedia. Created and maintained by avinash.vora.
One of the nice things about a paper copy of an encyclopedia was flicking through till you spotted something interesting. Following links in wikipedia didn't quite get there. This does. Nice.
posted by bystander at 4:54 AM on July 28, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by bystander at 4:54 AM on July 28, 2009 [2 favorites]
I like! I want to know more about Room 39.
posted by molecicco at 4:55 AM on July 28, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by molecicco at 4:55 AM on July 28, 2009 [1 favorite]
This is perfect. Thanks.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:30 AM on July 28, 2009
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:30 AM on July 28, 2009
"some of the best reading on Wikipedia"...
The links I've followed are to articles that are obscure in subject matter. This is not the same as "good reading" and certainly not "best reading", especially when the article linked to is only a paragraph long.
It's easy to link to obscure articles. Finding the well-compiled ones that make genuinely good reading would be rather more time consuming. They are out there, but I'm not sure this site is finding them.
posted by nthdegx at 6:02 AM on July 28, 2009
The links I've followed are to articles that are obscure in subject matter. This is not the same as "good reading" and certainly not "best reading", especially when the article linked to is only a paragraph long.
It's easy to link to obscure articles. Finding the well-compiled ones that make genuinely good reading would be rather more time consuming. They are out there, but I'm not sure this site is finding them.
posted by nthdegx at 6:02 AM on July 28, 2009
It's easy to link to obscure articles. Finding the well-compiled ones that make genuinely good reading would be rather more time consuming.
No kidding. I was just looking up "secant" this morning and the entry is pretty sparse and unhelpful. Of course, I could go research it and fill the article out to be good...
In fact, that gives me an idea. One could make a blog like this one, that's essentially a honeypot for pedants. "Here's a great article on X!" each post would say. Except the entry is only mediocre or has some slight errors. The pedants would feel compelled to fix the article, resulting in improvements.
The only hard part would be identifying the articles that need the fixing. One heuristic might be something like "is only read once a month and hasn't been edited in six months". Low-traffic means bit-rot in software, presumably something similar applies to encyclopediae.
posted by DU at 6:22 AM on July 28, 2009 [3 favorites]
No kidding. I was just looking up "secant" this morning and the entry is pretty sparse and unhelpful. Of course, I could go research it and fill the article out to be good...
In fact, that gives me an idea. One could make a blog like this one, that's essentially a honeypot for pedants. "Here's a great article on X!" each post would say. Except the entry is only mediocre or has some slight errors. The pedants would feel compelled to fix the article, resulting in improvements.
The only hard part would be identifying the articles that need the fixing. One heuristic might be something like "is only read once a month and hasn't been edited in six months". Low-traffic means bit-rot in software, presumably something similar applies to encyclopediae.
posted by DU at 6:22 AM on July 28, 2009 [3 favorites]
Super, thank you.
posted by johnny novak at 6:55 AM on July 28, 2009
posted by johnny novak at 6:55 AM on July 28, 2009
This is a link full of weird stuff on wikipedia. Who would have guessed that wikipedia would have a whole article on Rasputin's penis?
posted by I_pity_the_fool at 9:01 AM on July 28, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by I_pity_the_fool at 9:01 AM on July 28, 2009 [1 favorite]
As an admitted Wikipedian, I'm personally fond of lamest edit wars.
posted by msalt at 9:27 AM on July 28, 2009
posted by msalt at 9:27 AM on July 28, 2009
Yeah, a lot of the posts are to subjects better covered by Damn Interesting.
This makes me want to start my own Interesting Stuff from Wikipedia feed based on articles I've edited that still need more work: a strange entrepreneur, unusually-shaped concrete blocks, the name for Thoreau's beard, "clan tags", stingray rawhide, etc.
posted by dreamyshade at 12:57 PM on July 28, 2009
This makes me want to start my own Interesting Stuff from Wikipedia feed based on articles I've edited that still need more work: a strange entrepreneur, unusually-shaped concrete blocks, the name for Thoreau's beard, "clan tags", stingray rawhide, etc.
posted by dreamyshade at 12:57 PM on July 28, 2009
I hate the fact that every detail of the Wikipedia entry about me is factually correct, but the pictures are terrible.
posted by twoleftfeet at 12:35 AM on July 29, 2009
posted by twoleftfeet at 12:35 AM on July 29, 2009
self link: I have a blog with the same concept. Guess I'm not the first one to think of making a Greatest Hits for the site.
posted by ageispolis at 2:14 AM on July 29, 2009
posted by ageispolis at 2:14 AM on July 29, 2009
Hm, interesting. It links to an article on July 3rd that I linked to on May 17. It was the very first article I linked to on my blog. It looks like the blog was created on June 6. Coincidence? Most definitely.
posted by ageispolis at 2:21 AM on July 29, 2009
posted by ageispolis at 2:21 AM on July 29, 2009
« Older lots of pews, but this ain't no church. | Sucky craigslist posts. Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Well, there goes the rest of today.
posted by permafrost at 4:42 AM on July 28, 2009