In good encyclopedic tradition, a reference to that quote in context, is probably in order. Ziko, I suspect you got this quote from this 2010 chapter? https://reagle.org/joseph/2010/gfc/chapter-2.html
If I look at this post, he talks about progressivism in the context of methodology and technology used, much more than where it comes to content. It is very well possible to be progressive in the way you edit your encyclopedia, or to hold progressive values, and at the same time be conservative in the decisions what knowledge to incorporate and what to leave out. But maybe I'm reading it wrong? But I'll let others read Reagle's chapter, and draw their own conclusions - it's an interesting read either way. Lodewijk On Wed, May 27, 2020 at 6:46 AM Yaroslav Blanter <ymb...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Ziko, > > there is a long-standing problem of recentism. There are a lot of Wikipedia > articles which are only based on new sources (though reliable) and not on > serious academic literature. There are some which contain zero encyclopedic > information because they basically only retell the news stories. There are > twe whole classes of articles which are not even written in prose, such as > all COVID-19 article (with a couple of exceptions). I have just given up at > some point, I think we are beyond the point of no return. As soon as we are > working on really notable topics and their quality is improving and not > degrading I can live with this. > > This is just one aspect of what you mention but I think an important one. > > Best > Yaroslav > > On Wed, May 27, 2020 at 3:36 PM Ziko van Dijk <zvand...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Dear fellows, > > > > Some time ago, Joseph Reagle wrote that an encyclopedia must be > > progressive. In my personal view, something "progressive" sounds to me > > intuitively more sympathetic than something "conservative". But of > course, > > these are only two words loaden with meaning, and reality is always more > > complex. > > > > It seems to me that many Wikipedians or Wikimedians think of themselves > as > > being progressive and modern. Our wikis are a tribute to science and > > enlightenment. Spontaneity and a laissez-faire-attitude are held in high > > regard; "productive chaos" and "anarchy" are typical for wikis. > > > > When I had a closer look at our values and ideas, I got the impression > that > > the opposite is true. Many attitudes and ideals sound to me more like > > bureaucracy and traditionalism: > > * being thorough, with regard to content and writing about it > > * community spirit > > * treating everyone equally without regard of the person (the highest > ideal > > of the Prussian civil servant) > > * individual initiative > > * reliability > > > > What do you think? Is this just my personal or national background, or > has > > Wikipedia been build up on a different basis than we usually tell > ourselves > > and others? > > > > Kind regards > > Ziko > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
