On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 1:56 PM, Steve Bennett<stevag...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 10:16 AM, Carcharoth<carcharot...@googlemail.com> > wrote: >> Only three of those 24 articles, in my opinion, have moved much beyond >> being a single line article or a few lines at most, even though >> impeccably referenced. You might say "go and help expand those >> articles" (and I might well do that). But there is a subtle difference >> between the motivation to write a new article and to expand an >> existing one. There absolutely *shouldn't* be that differerence, but >> human nature being what it is, that is a factor, I fear. > > I've made a hundred or so stubs. A few have been expanded by others. A > very few have been expanded massively (particularly [[Calcot Manor]]. > > But I think your premise is wrong. Say I turn a redlink into a tiny > stub. You're assuming that some other editor was going to turn that > redlink into a big article, and now refrains from editing it because > it's not a redlink any more. I suggest that he picks a different > redlink instead. That is: > > Your theory: > Before: 2 redlinks > After: 1 redlink, 1 tiny stub > > You prefer: > After: 1 redlink, 1 big article > > My theory: > Before: 2 redlinks > After: 1 tiny stub, 1 big article.
I think the most useful thing that can be done when writing stubs, is not to just find one source and write one sentence. Even if only the most basic facts can be written in the available time, I think the minimum is to leave sources for someone else to carry on writing the article. Whether on the talk page or as external links or as further reading or whatever. In other words, leave four or five sources behind you, to encourage others to expand the article. But this is getting more into what the "perfect stub" is... :-) The most complete "initial" article I created recently (I don't create that many articles) was this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_W._Moore An example of an article where I dumped a load of other sources in the external links (some were behind a paywall, so I couldn't access them), is this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Jefferson Oh, cool! Someone came along and added this: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Geoffrey_Jefferson&diff=304677112&oldid=304023235 Another example is this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Muir_(pathologist) Again, several obituaries and biographies linked at the bottom in the hope that others will come along later and add more. I suppose the question is whether such articles are better built up bit by bit over time from a small stub, or given a hefty start. Carcharoth _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l