User:Whateley23

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Whateley23, whose birth name is C. Lee Vermeers, has a special interest in Celtic, and specifically Gaelic, matters and religions. he is heavily involved in the Celtic Reconstructionist movement. in addition, he enjoys Steampunk and Western martial arts. he calls his favorite music "dark", but refuses to be any more specific than that. He was once interested in, but has grown increasingly disappointed with, Transhumanism.

In his opinion, Wikipedia has lost its way. He feels that this is due to a misguided attempt to avoid certain rumors of unreliability, rumors which had already been substantially disproven by the one study of the issue (which showed that Wikipedia was at least as accurate as the Encyclopædia Britannica regarding hard facts). As a result, unfortunately, many of Wikipedia's strengths have been eliminated and its weaknesses buttressed. No longer is the site a wonderful repository of cutting-edge information about various subcultures, a source of obscure data which can lead to useful insights. Now, he feels, it's merely the refuge of fundamentalist-minded New Atheists (and, increasingly, other fundamentalist types), online trolls, and mere fanboys/girls.

The ways to fix this problem are obvious, but probably not acceptable to the hordes of the aforementioned who now comprise the majority of active editors. Set stricter guidelines regarding the removal of articles (to include discouraging the "err on the side of deletion" position), and make the notability criteria much more generous. Re-loosen the guidelines on citations to allow statements or works by involved parties - some facts are descriptions of the opinions held by others, not descriptions of stochastic reality.

There's little reason to delete an article, after all. There's effectively infinite space here, and not all articles are viewed with the same frequency. As a result, articles with low interest will simply not be viewed or referenced as often.