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John J. Woods
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Posted: 16 September 2005 at 8:13am | IP Logged | 1  

Mike Tishman Wrote:
"This site has been infinitely disappointing."

So why wait until now to begin your martyrdom?

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Todd Hembrough
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Posted: 16 September 2005 at 8:15am | IP Logged | 2  

Wow, Mike T, that is quite a crash landing!!  Hope you come out of it ok.

I think that this is an idiotic debate (though one that I am party to).  An encyclopedia can contain opinion, and supposition, it simply must be attributed to a person with the standing necessary to render their opinion valuable.

In a Jefferson entry, one could quote Aaron Burr's writing to support the fact that Thomas J. was not universally loved....."In fact Aaron Burr once wrote " That Jefferson is such a dandy, he thinks he is French". Though he probably said something much worse.

Opinion sure, but also appropriate for inclusion in an encyclopedia or a biography.

Here we have unattributed attacks, and that is inappropriate.  It would also be inappropriate for Wikipedia to quote me on Captain Fonebone, just as the average microbrain Byrne haters opinion is irrelevent.

Now, if Shooter, or Claremont, or a peer of JB's were to say something, with proper attribution, that would be 'information' that could be relevent, assuming it was put in the appropriate context.  And if the conclusion was that JB was not universally loved, then so be it.

For the rest of us civilians, it is jsut a god complex that you can go to his page, adn write whatever you want.


Edited by Todd Hembrough on 16 September 2005 at 8:22am
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James C. Taylor
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Posted: 16 September 2005 at 8:17am | IP Logged | 3  

 Todd Hembrough wrote:
Wow, Mike T, that is quite a crash landing!! Hope you come out of it ok.

That made me smile.
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Todd Hembrough
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Posted: 16 September 2005 at 8:18am | IP Logged | 4  

Another point about Wiki's.

They may be inherently doomed to fail.  the LA times tried a Wiki experiment where people could edit their editorials.  It lasted a day or two because 2 camps formed with diametrically opposed opinions (lets call them Left adn Right).  It turned into a shit-storm, and then was shut off altogether.

The same thing may happen constantly for the more controversial Wikipedia listings, like for Reagan, or GWBush, or Clinton, etc.

I suspect that it is a model that cannot work, as it relies on the maturity of the audience to succeed. One, or a handful, of malicious folks can mess it up quite well, as we have seen with the slanderous version of JB's entry.

T
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Todd Hembrough
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Posted: 16 September 2005 at 8:19am | IP Logged | 5  

James Taylor:

Todd Hembrough wrote:
Wow, Mike T, that is quite a crash landing!! Hope you come out of it ok.

That made me smile.

----


Looked like you needed it!! 
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Ian Evans
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Posted: 16 September 2005 at 8:20am | IP Logged | 6  

Dammit Todd you took the words right out of my keyboard!  OF COURSE encyclopedias contain opinion - any entry on an artist or author that does not contain an assessment of their cultural legacy and impact would be a disappointing and limited one to my mind - but as you said, that opinion is completely valueless if rendered by John Q Clueless. 
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Todd Hembrough
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Posted: 16 September 2005 at 8:23am | IP Logged | 7  

Ian,

It is even more true, as you note, when you speak about the cultural or artistic legacy of artist, writers, actors etc.

All analysis of those are inherently opinion.  You just hope that the writer is educated enough to render a just analysis.

t
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Jason Fulton
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Posted: 16 September 2005 at 8:24am | IP Logged | 8  

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Lewis Himelhoch
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Posted: 16 September 2005 at 8:26am | IP Logged | 9  

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Todd Hembrough
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Posted: 16 September 2005 at 8:28am | IP Logged | 10  

In this vignette, who is the windmill and who is Don Quixote?  (Which I have pronounced as Quicks-ote since I was a kid!!!)
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James C. Taylor
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Posted: 16 September 2005 at 8:36am | IP Logged | 11  

I always thought it was about a donkey named Hoatee.
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Todd Hembrough
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Posted: 16 September 2005 at 8:39am | IP Logged | 12  

Nice one James!

It reminds of the book about Olive the beagle who thought that she was the "other raindeer" and had to get to the north pole to help Santa!  Cute kids book

"Olive, the other raindeer, used to laugh an call him names...."
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