I was editing Wikipedia, as I do, and, while patrolling the Solar System article, I stumbled across this eyebrow-raising new paragraph:

Now as a rule I don't like it when people add nonsese to Wikipedia, largely because most of it involves graceless mention of bodily functions. And of course it's tedious to have to go through the rigamarole of deleting any additional material. So, slightly peeved, as I swept the paragraph away, I added this to the edit summary

"Very nice. I give you a B- for the effort. Would have been an A were it not for the gross factual errors."

But now I feel like I spoke out of turn. Of course there were some fairly glaring errors in that little essay, but most of them had to do with the ever-contentious planet definition, which is open to interpretation. According to the IAU's definition, after all, since Sedna is, as far as we know, alone, it is a planet. And Pluto is a planet if you subscribe to Alan Stern's definition. Shame she didn't mention Eris of course, but hey, was that worth a B-? I feel like I may have crushed an incipient astronomical career into a million tinkling, glittering shards of fragile adolescent ego.

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There is a growing tendancy to think of Man as a rational, thinking being, which is absurd.- Marvin the Martian.

It's gotten to the point where careful investigation is needed just to tell parody from reality. I think that means reality is broken.- Noclevername.

so... react again and make your point more clear, apologize if you feel the need.

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

They are working on it....

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Well, I don't think the purpose of Wikipedia is to provide a platform for schoolkids to write their own account of scientific subjects. Thats what school and teachers are for. Its more like a place for experts to write on what they know best. There's much to learn from it for incipient astronomers. Am I missing something?

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A slight inclination of the cranium is as adequate as a spasmodic movement of one optic towards an equinine quadruped utterly devoid of any visionary capacity.

Yeah, you did a little puppy kicking there. On the other hand, TRS is right, Wiki isnt really a place for schoolkids to put their essays.

Maybe you could point out her errors and point her to places where she could learn more.

Places like here maybe?

You're right about that TRS. So the best thing parr. could have done, IMO, was removing or correcting the paragraph and in the edit section explain to the writer of the paragraph that he encourages his interest in astronomy, but that there were some factual errors in it, and explain them.

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

Yesterday, I looked up Jimmy Nuetron. There was a nasty anatomical reference in the first paragraph. I looked for the "edit" function on that paragraph, but couldn't find it. I hope it's not still there. I'm scared to look.

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"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek
"Carl Sagan sent a message to ET,
Neil Armstrong walked in the Sea of Tranquility
Steve Squyers built Spirit and Opportunity
Dan Haylen upchucked in zero gravity." -Brent Simon, The Space Camp Song

Uh, did you not see the "edit this page" tab at the top of the page? You could've just hit that and scrolled through the article for the offending material and edited it back yourself.

I've had some experiences with wikipedia that make me assume the amount of work the moderators get, stands in the way of the facts.

I had forgotten my wiki login, so edited anonymously. Nice edit, with comment explaining the edit. Edit removed. Edited again. Edit removed. Edited again, this time with my login. Edit accepted. So the facts and nothing but the facts only goes so far.

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

Silly me mentioning my Wiki work on this site. Now people reading this are trolling my Wiki talk page. Oh well.

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There is a growing tendancy to think of Man as a rational, thinking being, which is absurd.- Marvin the Martian.

It's gotten to the point where careful investigation is needed just to tell parody from reality. I think that means reality is broken.- Noclevername.

And you just gave us ideas.


kidding, kidding

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A slight inclination of the cranium is as adequate as a spasmodic movement of one optic towards an equinine quadruped utterly devoid of any visionary capacity.

Welcome to the internet!

Um, I'm scared of spelling your name wrong, so can I call you phai? Rhymes with my first name? Like I said, I was too scared to spend any more time on the page.

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"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek
"Carl Sagan sent a message to ET,
Neil Armstrong walked in the Sea of Tranquility
Steve Squyers built Spirit and Opportunity
Dan Haylen upchucked in zero gravity." -Brent Simon, The Space Camp Song

ha ha ha oh wow, afraid it was going to bite you? Man, two people who are new to the internet. Also copy+paste = correct spelling everytime!