Wikipedia's Lamest Edit Wars 219
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Who says Wikipedians don't have a sense of humor? While perusing Wikipedia I recently came across an article documenting the lamest examples of wikipedia edit wars over the most trivial things. As one wikipedian says: 'Some discussions are born lame; some achieve lameness; some have lameness thrust upon them.' A few of the most amusing examples include: Was Chopin Polish, French, Polish–French, or French–Polish? Can you emigrate from a country of which you are not a citizen? Can you receive citizenship if you already have it? The possibilities for intensive study are endless. Next up, Are U2 an 'Irish band' or simply a band that happen to be from Ireland, since two of their members were born in the UK? A heated discussion took place for over two-and-a-half weeks that resulted in at least one editor getting blocked and many more getting warnings. Next, should members of the Beatles be listed in the 'traditional' order or in alphabetical order? Another edit war which flares up continuously in The Beatles involves whether to identify the band as 'The Beatles' with a capital T or 'the Beatles' with a lower case t. The issue became so contentious it merited an article in the Wall Street Journal. One such installment of this saga was brought before the arbitration committee (by an administrator, no less) where it was quickly declared 'silly.' Next, Is J. K. Rowling's name pronounced like 'rolling' or to rhyme with 'howling'? Rowling is on record claiming she pronounces her name like 'rolling'. An irate editor argues that this is a 'British' pronunciation and the 'American" pronunciation of her name should also be noted. 'This is slightly ridiculous as she is English, and therefore of course will pronounce it in an English manner. Perhaps it rhymes with "Trolling"?' Finally did Jimmy Wales found Wikipedia or co-found it? 'Not surprisingly, those who actually were around at the time and know the answer stayed far away from this one. The casualty list has yet to be compiled, but no doubt editor egos will be among the worst hit.'"
Re:I have to laugh over the rolling vs howling... (Score:5, Funny)
Aluminium (Score:5, Funny)
Re:WTF? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I have to laugh over the rolling vs howling... (Score:5, Funny)
Check-mate.
I will edit that to be "Touché." instead!
Re:Next up: Slashdot's lamest submissions (Score:4, Funny)
Of course Slashdot has the time. Just look at Timmy playing with his new video camera or Samzenpus staring out the window. Loads of time.
Do the reader's have the time? After that summary, I'd say "No".
Hopefully, someone will now come along to yell at me for placing the final period in the above sentence outside the closing quote. Only way to save this thread I'm afraid.
Re:I have to laugh over the rolling vs howling... (Score:5, Funny)
* I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I think that the pronunciation change is more noticeable in US media.
Well, the British are famous for some pronunciations too, especially when it comes to town names.
Just look at the nice little town of Littlelancfordupstratdoushire, pronounced "oi".
Re:Repost (sorta): we had this sort of article bef (Score:5, Funny)
Your right about that. I always corrected minor errors and its really annoying when people keep on changing them back irregardless of weather their correct or knot.
State of the Modern Society (Score:4, Funny)
I can't decide if I should be thrilled that we have achieved some kind of intellectual enlightened society evidenced by our capacity to be pedantic in a globally connected ecosystem of information, or appalled that people don't have better things to do with their time.
Perhaps we should have a discussion about this. On-line.
Final answers to stop all discussion (Score:5, Funny)
1. Chopin was Prussian.
2. You can only emigrate from a countrybefore receiving citizenship while already being a citizen.
3. U2 are a UK band with Irish members.
4. It should be capitalized with a capital T as such: "the BeaTles".
5. J.K. Rowling's last name is pronounced "roo-ling".
6. Jimmy Wales co-opted Wikipedia.
Now can we finally stop the edit-wars?
Re:Final answers to stop all discussion (Score:4, Funny)
1. Chopin was Prussian.
No. It's a little known fact, but he was actually Spanish[citation needed].
Re:I have to laugh over the rolling vs howling... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Final answers to stop all discussion (Score:2, Funny)
Citation [wikipedia.org]
Re:Weather or knot (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I have to laugh over the rolling vs howling... (Score:4, Funny)