User:Bth
A Modest Proposal
(Like all my contributions to Wikipedia, this idea is free to a good home. If any publishers with money to burn want to try this for real, they're welcome to.)
I've got an idea. It's for one of those little Christmas stocking filler books, like Schott's Miscellany or what have you. It'd be called 1001 Wikipedia Couldn't Tell You (Until This Book Was Published). It'd be quite easy to put together. You could probably do it with a volunteer effort of disgruntled Wikipedians. The only trouble is that (for reasons that should become clear) you need to be a reputable publisher to start with. There are four stages:
- Set up a website for people to submit things that were removed from Wikipedia for want of a reliable source.
- Selection of the most amusing (either funny in and of themselves, or ones that it's particularly silly were removed in the first place) for the book.
- Scrupulous fact-checking.
- Publish book with a decent print run etc.
The book, having gone through a "reputable publishing process", is now a Reliable Source per WP:RS for all the facts it contains and so Wikipedia can include them after all, Russell's paradox between two covers, if you will.
Of course, what will actually happen is that as soon as the project gathers steam Wikipedia will start to look a bit silly. As soon as this happens, the horde of people currently dominating the project whose main aim for it seems to be to avoid negative publicity will leap into action. And suddenly the policies will be modified to allow all the sources that the book itself was using, rendering the book rather self-immolating (which is why you have to have money to burn to do this).
Either that or someone will try and institute a policy called RL:POINT.
If Anyone Wants Me, I'll Be In My Room
Right, enough sarcasm. I'm going to archive my talk page and then I'll slink back to using this place as a moderately convenient reference source and correcting typos when I see them.
But please, immediatists and deletionists, look into your hearts and ask yourself whether you're helping the project achieve its full potential, or turning it into a stunted parody of itself as you bend over backwards to meet the objections of people who will never be satisfied.
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