I propose that Wikipedia include a new link in its navigation menu to the page Who writes Wikipedia. My primary concern is the potential for schoolchildren to assume that all Wikipedia entries are of equally high quality. This link documents the popularity of Wikipedia among kids: Alexa's Most Popular in Kids and Teens Category. This MSNBC news article discusses how uncritically the typical student entering college approaches research: Colleges look to test internet IQ.
Given the comments by Nowither at the old proposal about changing the Wikipedia tagline, I don't just want a link to a disclaimer, which is written in legalese, but to an educational statement written in simple language. I posted my draft comments at Who writes Wikipedia on August 23, 2005. Please edit if you have suggestions for improvements!
Notes from Nowhither
editMamawrites, on my talk page, you proposed collaborating here on a draft of "Who writes Wikipedia". I'm all for it.
So, to begin with, we have your ideas above:
- A. "why the quality of entries in the Wikipedia are likely to vary"
- B. "suggestions about how to investigate whether a particular entry gives reliable information"
And we have my ideas:
- C. "who writes Wikipedia"
- D. "what approval processes an article needs to go through to be published in it"
It looks like ideas A and D can be covered together, and I would say that idea B should be covered last, since it is basically about what the reader can/should do next.
... and now I've been sitting here for 15 minutes trying to think of what to write next. So I'll just submit what I've written and come back to this later. :-)
— Nowhither 10:58, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
Here's a dilemma
editA week or two ago, User:IMSoP removed the link I had placed to Wikipedia:Who writes Wikipedia within the Wikipedia encyclopedia entry, with this remark: it's a self-reference in the sense that it refers to community/project info, not another encyclopedia article; see Wikipedia:Avoid self-references
Since then, someone has added it back (was it you, Sitearm?) but I am reluctant to move forward with a Proposal about making a link to this page in the navigation box until I figure out how to deal with this issue.
Should I have created the page at Who writes Wikipedia instead of in the Wikipedia: namespace? Mamawrites 11:24, 8 September 2005 (UTC)