Hack got death threats from Wikipidiots

Hack got death threats from Wikipidiots
More Stalinistic purges

By Nick Farrell: Monday 26 February 2007, 06:40

ONLINE encyclopedia Wikipedia is killing off more people who its bunch of techies do not think are important enough.

The latest to be up for deletion was Slate hack Timothy Noah who apparently was not 'notable enough' for inclusion.

Noah notices that he now joins Anthony Stevens "internationally respected Jungian analyst, psychiatrist, and author", Final Approach "romantic comedy anime series", Secproof "well known security consulting company in Finland", and about 400 other topics tagged during the past calendar month.

A former Wall Street Journal hack, Noah admits that his beef with Wikipedia is caused by a swift kick in the ego. He said that to be told one has been found 'objectively unworthy' by a Wikipedia tech hardly softens the blow.

However he questions why Wikipedia needs a notability policy at all. While other encyclopedias need to limit the topics they cover because they are on paper. Wikipedia does not have that problem. Indeed, if people want to read about a person, it justifies their inclusion.

Noah points out that if Wikipedia publishes a bio of his cleaning lady, that won't make it any harder to field experts to write and edit Wikipedia's bio of Albert Einstein. So, why not let her in?

Wikipedia already maintains rules concerning verifiability and privacy. Why does it need separate rules governing 'notability'? Noah asks.

He looked at the policy and found it a bit spotty. A former Playboy Playmate of the Month is notable but a girlfriend to a famous rock star is not.

Ironically Noah was permitted inclusion because he wrote his article on Wikipedia which seemed to get him loads of death threats. Talking about Wikipedia makes you famous apparently.