Crap articles

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Crap articles

Unread post by Peter Damian » Fri Jul 27, 2012 12:18 pm

Starting with this one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-concept . I don't know much about psychology, but this one seems a pile of old poo, judging by the writing style and poverty of clear expression. Not even psychologists write as badly as this. It also seems to have been largely written by socks. Could an expert on psychology give us a view?
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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Anroth » Fri Jul 27, 2012 12:27 pm

I'm a borderline sociopath, would my opinion count?

This is a joke.

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Kilmarnock » Fri Jul 27, 2012 5:09 pm

Peter Damian wrote: ... Not even psychologists write as badly as this.
Nevertheless perhaps a tad more readable than Gender studies, whose enterprisingly minimalist start by a certain L. Sanger was sadly not to be emulated by later contributors?

This is the Britannica's first paragraph on "self-concept" in its article on "human behaviour":

One of the most important aspects of a child's emotional development is the formation of his self-concept,or identity—namely, his sense of who he is and what his relation to other people is. The most conspicuous trend in children's growing self-awareness is a shift from concrete physical attributes to more abstract characteristics. This shift is apparent in those characteristics children emphasize when asked to describe themselves. Young children—four to six years of age—seem to define themselves in terms of such observable characteristics as hair colour, height, or their favourite activities. But within a few years, their descriptions of themselves shift to more abstract, internal, or psychological qualities, including their competences and skills relative to those of others. Thus, as children approach adolescence, they tend to increasingly define themselves by the unique and individual quality of their feelings, thoughts, and beliefs rather than simply by external characteristics.

(human behaviour. (2009). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica 2009 Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica)

I know which I would prefer to read if I wanted to inform myself about self-concept.

So many Wikipedia articles like this. Meticulously researched maybe (but we have to take that on trust even in Featured Articles if the forum will allow me to squeeze in a bit of Wordsworth micro-bitching here) and unfortunately absolutely unreadable.

I'm very sorry Larry's Citizendium appears yet to get off the ground. Indeed it looks as if we are stuck with Wikipedia, but it so sadly sadly needs expert editor committees to provide much needed peer review and give articles like Self-concept a sense of direction and indeed, in this case, coherence as well.

It's not that I don't support a people's encyclopaedia. I do passionately, but we do have to get real about quality control.

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by DanMurphy » Fri Jul 27, 2012 5:24 pm

Kilmarnock wrote:
Peter Damian wrote: ... Not even psychologists write as badly as this.
Nevertheless perhaps a tad more readable than Gender studies, whose enterprisingly minimalist start by a certain L. Sanger was sadly not to be emulated by later contributors?

This is the Britannica's first paragraph on "self-concept" in its article on "human behaviour":

One of the most important aspects of a child's emotional development is the formation of his self-concept,or identity—namely, his sense of who he is and what his relation to other people is. The most conspicuous trend in children's growing self-awareness is a shift from concrete physical attributes to more abstract characteristics. This shift is apparent in those characteristics children emphasize when asked to describe themselves. Young children—four to six years of age—seem to define themselves in terms of such observable characteristics as hair colour, height, or their favourite activities. But within a few years, their descriptions of themselves shift to more abstract, internal, or psychological qualities, including their competences and skills relative to those of others. Thus, as children approach adolescence, they tend to increasingly define themselves by the unique and individual quality of their feelings, thoughts, and beliefs rather than simply by external characteristics.

(human behaviour. (2009). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica 2009 Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica)

I know which I would prefer to read if I wanted to inform myself about self-concept.

So many Wikipedia articles like this. Meticulously researched maybe (but we have to take that on trust even in Featured Articles if the forum will allow me to squeeze in a bit of Wordsworth micro-bitching here) and unfortunately absolutely unreadable.

I'm very sorry Larry's Citizendium appears yet to get off the ground. Indeed it looks as if we are stuck with Wikipedia, but it so sadly sadly needs expert editor committees to provide much needed peer review and give articles like Self-concept a sense of direction and indeed, in this case, coherence as well.

It's not that I don't support a people's encyclopaedia. I do passionately, but we do have to get real about quality control.
Exhibit 1,324,612 on the failure of crowd sourcing to address even well settled academic ideas in a comprehensible way for a general audience. Here's the lede to wikipedia's article for a side by side comparison (all of those citations in the lede strongly imply some kind of ideological warfare has been taking place to boot).
Self-concept (also called self-construction, self-identity or self-perspective) is a multi-dimensional construct that refers to an individual's perception of "self" in relation to any number of characteristics, such as academics (and nonacademics),[1][2][3][4][5] gender roles and sexuality,[6][7][8] racial identity,[9] and many others. Each of these characteristics is a research domain (i.e. Academic Self-Concept) within the larger spectrum of self-concept although no characteristics exist in isolation as one’s self-concept is a collection of beliefs about oneself.[10][11] While closely related with self-concept clarity (which "refers to the extent to which self-knowledge is clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and temporally stable"),[12] it presupposes but is distinguishable from self-awareness, which is simply an individual's awareness of their self. It is also more general than self-esteem, which is a function of the purely evaluative element of the self-concept.[13]

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Peter Damian » Fri Jul 27, 2012 6:10 pm

DanMurphy wrote: This is the Britannica's first paragraph on "self-concept" in its article on "human behaviour":

One of the most important aspects of a child's emotional development is the formation of his self-concept,or identity—namely, his sense of who he is and what his relation to other people is. The most conspicuous trend in children's growing self-awareness is a shift from concrete physical attributes to more abstract characteristics. This shift is apparent in those characteristics children emphasize when asked to describe themselves. Young children—four to six years of age—seem to define themselves in terms of such observable characteristics as hair colour, height, or their favourite activities. But within a few years, their descriptions of themselves shift to more abstract, internal, or psychological qualities, including their competences and skills relative to those of others. Thus, as children approach adolescence, they tend to increasingly define themselves by the unique and individual quality of their feelings, thoughts, and beliefs rather than simply by external characteristics.

(human behaviour. (2009). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica 2009 Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica)

I know which I would prefer to read if I wanted to inform myself about self-concept.
Quite - but what about all those studies that found Wikipedia to be the very equal of Britannica?
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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Sweet Revenge » Fri Jul 27, 2012 6:33 pm

Peter Damian wrote:
DanMurphy wrote: This is the Britannica's first paragraph on "self-concept" in its article on "human behaviour":

One of the most important aspects of a child's emotional development is the formation of his self-concept,or identity—namely, his sense of who he is and what his relation to other people is. The most conspicuous trend in children's growing self-awareness is a shift from concrete physical attributes to more abstract characteristics. This shift is apparent in those characteristics children emphasize when asked to describe themselves. Young children—four to six years of age—seem to define themselves in terms of such observable characteristics as hair colour, height, or their favourite activities. But within a few years, their descriptions of themselves shift to more abstract, internal, or psychological qualities, including their competences and skills relative to those of others. Thus, as children approach adolescence, they tend to increasingly define themselves by the unique and individual quality of their feelings, thoughts, and beliefs rather than simply by external characteristics.

(human behaviour. (2009). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica 2009 Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica)

I know which I would prefer to read if I wanted to inform myself about self-concept.
Quite - but what about all those studies that found Wikipedia to be the very equal of Britannica?
Mostly based on 42 articles in the sciences, weren't they?

http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/ ... 5/12/69844

Also focused on errors rather than general stupidity and incomprehensibility is my impression.

Obviously this wasn't one of the 42, if psychology even counts as a science.

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Volunteer Marek » Fri Jul 27, 2012 6:40 pm

DanMurphy wrote:
Kilmarnock wrote:
Peter Damian wrote: ... Not even psychologists write as badly as this.
Nevertheless perhaps a tad more readable than Gender studies, whose enterprisingly minimalist start by a certain L. Sanger was sadly not to be emulated by later contributors?

This is the Britannica's first paragraph on "self-concept" in its article on "human behaviour":

One of the most important aspects of a child's emotional development is the formation of his self-concept,or identity—namely, his sense of who he is and what his relation to other people is. The most conspicuous trend in children's growing self-awareness is a shift from concrete physical attributes to more abstract characteristics. This shift is apparent in those characteristics children emphasize when asked to describe themselves. Young children—four to six years of age—seem to define themselves in terms of such observable characteristics as hair colour, height, or their favourite activities. But within a few years, their descriptions of themselves shift to more abstract, internal, or psychological qualities, including their competences and skills relative to those of others. Thus, as children approach adolescence, they tend to increasingly define themselves by the unique and individual quality of their feelings, thoughts, and beliefs rather than simply by external characteristics.

(human behaviour. (2009). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica 2009 Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica)

I know which I would prefer to read if I wanted to inform myself about self-concept.

So many Wikipedia articles like this. Meticulously researched maybe (but we have to take that on trust even in Featured Articles if the forum will allow me to squeeze in a bit of Wordsworth micro-bitching here) and unfortunately absolutely unreadable.

I'm very sorry Larry's Citizendium appears yet to get off the ground. Indeed it looks as if we are stuck with Wikipedia, but it so sadly sadly needs expert editor committees to provide much needed peer review and give articles like Self-concept a sense of direction and indeed, in this case, coherence as well.

It's not that I don't support a people's encyclopaedia. I do passionately, but we do have to get real about quality control.
Exhibit 1,324,612 on the failure of crowd sourcing to address even well settled academic ideas in a comprehensible way for a general audience. Here's the lede to wikipedia's article for a side by side comparison (all of those citations in the lede strongly imply some kind of ideological warfare has been taking place to boot).
Self-concept (also called self-construction, self-identity or self-perspective) is a multi-dimensional construct that refers to an individual's perception of "self" in relation to any number of characteristics, such as academics (and nonacademics),[1][2][3][4][5] gender roles and sexuality,[6][7][8] racial identity,[9] and many others. Each of these characteristics is a research domain (i.e. Academic Self-Concept) within the larger spectrum of self-concept although no characteristics exist in isolation as one’s self-concept is a collection of beliefs about oneself.[10][11] While closely related with self-concept clarity (which "refers to the extent to which self-knowledge is clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and temporally stable"),[12] it presupposes but is distinguishable from self-awareness, which is simply an individual's awareness of their self. It is also more general than self-esteem, which is a function of the purely evaluative element of the self-concept.[13]

refers to an individual's perception of "self" in relation to any number of characteristics, such as academics (and nonacademics) - Didn't they just cover everything right there? Why write anything more?

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by greybeard » Fri Jul 27, 2012 6:43 pm

Peter Damian wrote:Quite - but what about all those studies that found Wikipedia to be the very equal of Britannica?
The oft-quoted study in Nature selected 42 articles -- all on "hard" scientific topics, of the sort that arguably elicit little controversy and comparably little attention. The Britannica's editors pretty thoroughly demolished that (non-peer-reviewed) study in a subsequent paper. Earlier, the Grauniad measured only five articles: four biographies (one living one, Bob Dylan), an ethnography, the article "Haute couture" and the article on "Encyclopedia", and came up with a less-than-laudatory result.

Bottom line: the trope about Wikipedia studies is tripe, and about as accurate as Wikipedia articles: a tiny bit, but not enough to rely upon.

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Ismail » Sat Jul 28, 2012 8:26 am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_E ... tion_Front

The article is focused on the WWII-era group. Albania's Captives (a reference to Greeks in Albania) by Pyrrhus J. Ruches is given in every single case a claim is made except for a mention of James Petiffer whose only value here is noting that the MAVI actually existed during the war. Pettifer is a recognized authority on Albanian affairs. Ruches was (according to the book's dust jacket) a Korean War veteran and journalist for the Long Island Star-Journal, neither of which establish him as an authority on anything related to Albania. He was also Greek, and his book is full of racist attacks on Albanians. In addition basically no academic source cites the work except in a "for a biased Greek view see..." context.

The talk page has the editor who added this go up against another editor who notes the lameness of the source and both blatant inaccuracies in said source along with a lack of anything corroborating it, but no one cares so Ruches-using editor continues doing what he wants.

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by TungstenCarbide » Sat Jul 28, 2012 9:18 am

Stress (mechanics) (T-H-L)

To start with, compare to Britannica's article.

The Wikipedia article lacks clear and simple definitions. It talks exclusively about stress in solids while neglecting fluids and gasses. It neglects or obfuscates the most important and basic concepts, like ductile materials failing under shear and brittle materials failing under normal, fluids supporting normal but flowing under shear and so on... Reads like a graduate student's myopic and masturbatory lecture to himself. The article is mostly tensor math that should be moved to sub-articles, while useful formulas such as Mohr's Circle have long ago been deleted. Much of the article makes no sense unless you already understand it at a graduate level, and is essentially worthless to someone trying to learn about the subject.

The Britannica article is pretty bad too, but at least it conveys the basics with 1/100th as many words.
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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by piku » Sat Jul 28, 2012 11:37 am

TungstenCarbide wrote:Stress (mechanics) (T-H-L) ... Reads like a graduate student's myopic and masturbatory lecture to himself.
It is probably the accumulated work of many students studying for exams. Many wikipedia entries in physics are like this, dominated by endless TeX formulas. Often the only useful parts are the figures, which may have good captions.

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Vocal » Sat Jul 28, 2012 12:58 pm

The Józef Oleksy (T-H-L) article is dribbling shit as far as I can tell. He's a former Polish PM, but resigned over accusations of espionage (!). This incident has two/two-and-a-half sentences about it, but a subsequent scandal in which he said bad things about fellow party members gets half the article devoted to it.

Try reading the article history from this version onwards. A brillaint example of recentism in action.

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Kelly Martin » Sat Jul 28, 2012 1:04 pm

piku wrote:
TungstenCarbide wrote:Stress (mechanics) (T-H-L) ... Reads like a graduate student's myopic and masturbatory lecture to himself.
It is probably the accumulated work of many students studying for exams. Many wikipedia entries in physics are like this, dominated by endless TeX formulas. Often the only useful parts are the figures, which may have good captions.
Many of Wikipedia's engineering and science articles are like this. Another area where they look like this are health topics other than pharmaceuticals. I've also seen computing technology articles clearly written by people studying for their A+ exams.

I suspect the reason for the TeX formulas are editors who have learned how to replicate formulas in Wikipedia's math notation, and enjoy doing so, but have no idea what they actually mean. But that's ok, because presumably someone else does and will (eventually) come along and provide an explanation to go with the formula.

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by HRIP7 » Sat Jul 28, 2012 1:17 pm

Doris Lessing (T-H-L). Embarrassingly poor and uneven for a Nobel Prize winner. Has looked like that for at least the past five years.

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Peter Damian » Wed Aug 08, 2012 6:42 pm

Consumerism (T-H-L)
Consumerism has weak links with the Western world, but is in fact an international phenomenon. People purchasing goods and consuming materials in excess of their basic needs is as old as the first civilizations (e.g. Ancient Egypt, Babylon and Ancient Rome).

A great turn in consumerism arrived just before the Industrial Revolution. In the nineteenth century, capitalist development and the industrial revolution were primarily focused on the capital goods sector and industrial infrastructure (i.e., mining, steel, oil, transportation networks, communications networks, industrial cities, financial centers, etc.).

At that time, agricultural commodities, essential consumer goods, and commercial activities had developed to an extent, but not to the same extent as other sectors. Members of the working classes worked long hours for low wages – as much as 16 hours per day, 6 days per week. Little time or money was left for consumer activities.
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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Volunteer Marek » Thu Aug 09, 2012 2:52 pm

Vocal wrote:The Józef Oleksy (T-H-L) article is dribbling shit as far as I can tell. He's a former Polish PM, but resigned over accusations of espionage (!). This incident has two/two-and-a-half sentences about it, but a subsequent scandal in which he said bad things about fellow party members gets half the article devoted to it.

Try reading the article history from this version onwards. A brillaint example of recentism in action.
Ha, yeah, that is an excellent example of Wikipedia's "outdated recentism" - expect more of this as time goes on.
(Part of the problem here is that the political party he was part of imploded)

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Kelly Martin » Thu Aug 09, 2012 6:17 pm

Volunteer Marek wrote:
Vocal wrote:The Józef Oleksy (T-H-L) article is dribbling shit as far as I can tell. He's a former Polish PM, but resigned over accusations of espionage (!). This incident has two/two-and-a-half sentences about it, but a subsequent scandal in which he said bad things about fellow party members gets half the article devoted to it.

Try reading the article history from this version onwards. A brillaint example of recentism in action.
Ha, yeah, that is an excellent example of Wikipedia's "outdated recentism" - expect more of this as time goes on.
(Part of the problem here is that the political party he was part of imploded)
That's a good name for it. Something happens that causes someone to go in, clean up old stuff, and write a bunch of new stuff about some recent event that seems important but really isn't. Then the subject fades into obscurity, and the article stagnates like that indefinitely.

All because Wikipedia refuses to implement any sort of systematic review of its own content.

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Peter Damian » Mon Aug 27, 2012 6:17 pm

List of uprisings led by women http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_up ... d_by_women

Which has a particularly strong opening: "Women-led uprisings are mass protests that are initiated by women. "

Perhaps we should also have a thread for 'Wikipedia's worst non-sequitur'
This involvement by women is in striking contrast to women's lack of participation in earlier uprisings such as the widespread popular revolts of the late Middle Ages. This indicates that women's new assertiveness had something to do with the weakening of the patriarchal control of women as feudalism declined and market relations expanded.
Or 'Wikipedia's most absurd generalisation'
Marxists, such as Vladimir Lenin, warned against food riots.
As austerity economics is imposed across much of the world, working class women are predicted to face the majority of the burden in the form of public sector job losses and welfare cuts.[26] Whether this will lead to more women-led uprisings remains to be seen.
I see this excellent article was added only this year, the work of a single author and her sockpuppet. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... on=history

I retract my theory that all Wikipedia was written before 2009. Always improving, and steadily.
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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by AndyTheGrump » Mon Aug 27, 2012 7:31 pm

Still, wikipedia does get it right sometimes:

Kakadu_Pebble-mound_Mouse
The Kakadu Pebble-mound Mouse is a rodent native to Australia. It is one of the pebble-mound mice.
A small, but perfectly-formed article. As indeed is the mouse. (And yes, it is a rodent - I checked).

Apparently, pebble-mound mice "construct mounds of pebbles around their burrows, which play an important role in their social life". Evidently they have a more exciting social life than the average Wikipedian. :rolleyes:

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Zoloft » Mon Aug 27, 2012 8:17 pm

AndyTheGrump wrote:Still, wikipedia does get it right sometimes:

Kakadu_Pebble-mound_Mouse
The Kakadu Pebble-mound Mouse is a rodent native to Australia. It is one of the pebble-mound mice.
A small, but perfectly-formed article. As indeed is the mouse. (And yes, it is a rodent - I checked).

Apparently, pebble-mound mice "construct mounds of pebbles around their burrows, which play an important role in their social life". Evidently they have a more exciting social life than the average Wikipedian. :rolleyes:
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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by The Joy » Tue Aug 28, 2012 2:18 am

Homosexuality in the Batman franchise (T-H-L)

Is nothing sacred anymore? :facepalm:
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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by tarantino » Tue Aug 28, 2012 3:04 am

The Joy wrote:Homosexuality in the Batman franchise (T-H-L)

Is nothing sacred anymore? :facepalm:
No.
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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Randy from Boise » Tue Aug 28, 2012 4:54 am

You are surprised that Batman's "youthful ward" named Dick who runs around in lycra shorts and sheer leggings is perceived as gay?

Perish the thought!

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by lonza leggiera » Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:04 am

Peter Damian wrote:List of uprisings led by women http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_up ... d_by_women

Which has a particularly strong opening: "Women-led uprisings are mass protests that are initiated by women. " ...
The scope of this article seems to have been somewhat restricted by its rather peculiar definition of "women-led uprisings". Otherwise, I should have thought that any article entitled List of uprisings led by women could hardly have failed to mention two of the most famous examples—namely, the Boadicea-led British revolt and the Zenobia-led Palmyrian revolt against the Roman Empire.
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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Versus » Tue Aug 28, 2012 11:02 am

Kilmarnock wrote:Nevertheless perhaps a tad more readable than Gender studies, whose enterprisingly minimalist start by a certain L. Sanger was sadly not to be emulated by later contributors?
Sanger seems to have a thing against gender studies .

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Randy from Boise » Tue Aug 28, 2012 8:20 pm

Versus wrote:
Kilmarnock wrote:Nevertheless perhaps a tad more readable than Gender studies, whose enterprisingly minimalist start by a certain L. Sanger was sadly not to be emulated by later contributors?
Sanger seems to have a thing against gender studies .
Sangerpedia was nothing if not minimalistic...

Actually, to the meat of the critique, I'm not quite sure what rehashing an old protest email from 2006 tells us. Of course Mr. Sanger's proclivities are traditional and of course asserting that structurally at CZ was sure to cause sparks.

Is Citizendium still even functioning? Is Larry Sanger still even associated with that project? That strikes me as more pertinent in 2012...

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by thekohser » Wed Sep 05, 2012 7:41 pm

Since December 2, 2009, this edit I roughly estimate has witnessed 5,600+ page views. Nobody's removed it. However, EoGuy (T-C-L) (a self-described Mensa member, I kid you not) was sweet enough to help fix some of the spelling errors.
Eduardo Mendoza 12/01/09
I was born in Tecomatan. My father is Eliodoro Mendoza (El Surdo) and Socorro Zarate my Mom. My grand parents were Luis Mendoza and Celerina Zaragoza. The name of the school i attended to is "Ing. Jose Luis Arregui". People there clebrate the day on "Sata Cruz" every 3rd of may. Wild cats, Coyotes and Armadillos are some of the exotic animals that still exist there. Up untill the time i left the village we all new each other. 2007 was the last time i visited my little village. i missed it so much! i was able to see some 4 & 6 year old kids claiming threes (Huamichil) to collect the fruis and sell them to get money to spend. It reminded me the time when i used to do it. Tecomatan will allways be in my memory. i will continue telling my kids every thing i can for them to know where i come from.

Espero que otros tambien me acompanen y pongan sus experiencias y asi hacer un cuadro mas grande de el pueblito que nos vio crecer.
Thank you for leaving your mark on Wikipedia, young Mendoza.

And now, I get this message from Wikipedia:
Sorry! This site is experiencing technical difficulties.
Try waiting a few minutes and reloading.

(Can't contact the database server: Unknown database 'enwiki' (10.0.6.35))


------------------------------------------------------------

You can try searching via Google in the meantime.
Note that their indexes of our content may be out of date.

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by EricBarbour » Wed Sep 05, 2012 10:25 pm


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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by thekohser » Thu Sep 06, 2012 1:26 am

Please, don't go fouling my study, Eric. :evilgrin:
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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by EricBarbour » Thu Sep 06, 2012 3:06 am

thekohser wrote:
Please, don't go fouling my study, Eric. :evilgrin:
Fear not, I didn't put it in the list. Seriously though, I think you'll end up with a very high percentage of these
articles found to be obvious POV/paid work, maybe 20% or more. And at least 10% of them are so badly
written, I'd be embarrassed to let them sit there.

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by EricBarbour » Thu Sep 06, 2012 4:59 am

Typical treatment of a soap-opera character:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beth_Raines

Most of the characters in BBC soaps like Coronation Street and Eastenders enjoy similar Wiki-Luv. :yak:

Plus a stiff dose of that infamous Indian wiki-slobber (patent pending): Devika (T-H-L).
Premila changed her name as Devika, which proved to be lucky, In 1958 she made her debut in Mudhalali paired with veteran Film actor S.S.Rajendran With the big Tilagam adorning her forehead, the movie was a Block Buster; Devika represented the quintessential Indian woman, caring, self effacing and sacrificing. Sivaji and Devika figured in some memorable movies like Karnan, that powerful mythological, and the hilarious Bale Pandiya and Kulamagal Radhai, Neelavanam, annai Illam, Pavamanippu among the best. Her looks in fact made her the ideal choice for producers of historical and mythological films. Neela vanam was one of the best movies for her excellent performance. This movie is always memorable and enjoyable her role with Nadigar Thilakam. After seeing this movie nobody will forget Devika. This movie must be watched

Devika also made an indelible mark in family drama, the genre that easily wins the hearts of the audience, both urban and rural. With producers churning out such films, some tear-jerkers and others light, and no dearth of heroines, it was due to her talent and charm that Devika got the opportunity to play memorable roles in films like Vanambadi, Vazhkai Padagu and Nenjam Marappadhillai. If the song Sonnathu needhana... in C.V.Sridhar\'s Nenjil Or Aalayam attained immortality the credit for making it visually poignant goes to Devika, who rendered it in the landmark film. She had carved a niche for herself with her grace and beauty at a time when other heroines vied for the top slot. She did total justice to whatever character she portrayed never failing to give a wholesome performance. She was a blend of grace and charm, a versatile actress Devika acted in about 150 films in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by EricBarbour » Thu Sep 06, 2012 5:27 am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_Med_Ria_Bintan

It's in boldface because it's a great resort!!!!!!!!
It was created by Blofeld, so why is it now tagged as not notable!!!!!! I don't know!!!!!!

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by EricBarbour » Thu Sep 06, 2012 8:06 am

If you're writing an article about the 2008 Swedish Rally (T-H-L), and you don't have a "free" photo of the
actual rally to use, why would you use a stock photo of an empty snow-covered road that could be almost anywhere
in high latitudes?

Plus, if you like that management pseudo-jargon, try Information and communication technologies for environmental sustainability (T-H-L). A teachable moment.....

And for extra fun, Michael Holman (artist) (T-H-L). In the edit history you will find:
(cur | prev) 19:52, 27 March 2010‎ 24.215.190.223 (talk)‎ . . (4,386 bytes) (+4)‎ . . (I, Michael Holman, have added important biographical information to my own wikipedia page...) (undo)
(cur | prev) 19:29, 27 March 2010‎ 24.215.190.223 (talk)‎ . . (4,382 bytes) (+81)‎ . . (I, Michael Holman, again have added important bio info about my life and career as an artist in NYC) (undo)
(cur | prev) 19:26, 27 March 2010‎ 24.215.190.223 (talk)‎ . . (4,301 bytes) (+3,546)‎ . . (I, Michael Holman, have added important biographical information to my own wikipedia page...) (undo)

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by EricBarbour » Thu Sep 06, 2012 11:39 pm

Bestest disambig page I've ever seen:

BAMF (T-H-L)
Bamf, the sound generated by the fictional Marvel Comics character Nightcrawler when teleporting
BAMF!, a band from Missouri
British Art Market Federation, a professional organization of art dealers
Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge or Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, an agency of the Federal Ministry of the Interior in Germany
“Bad ass mother fucker” – slang for cool

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by 86Mookie » Fri Sep 07, 2012 4:15 am

Jeremy Brigham (T-H-L)

1 sentence, 1 infobox, ~50 links.

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Tarc » Fri Sep 07, 2012 4:35 am

86Mookie wrote:Jeremy Brigham (T-H-L)

1 sentence, 1 infobox, ~50 links.
The hell? Only the first two are actual refs, the rest is just a large list of links with no purpose. I'm going to lop that junk off now, maybe throw it on the talk page if anyone wants to expand the article.

The article creator reeks of paid/COI editing. Moreinfo4all (T-C-L), other significant contribs are to Erica Arana (T-H-L), a cheerleader who also hosted a local sports show with Jeremy Brigham. Two PR-ish paragraphs and 5 scantily-clad, Commons-hosted images. Possible AfD candidate.

Moreinfo4all also once edit-warred with a bot over Bruschetta (T-H-L). Links and diffs were suppressed, but he also reverted the same bot at the Garlic article in the same time frame over a youtube link about...making cheesy garlic bread. :hmmm: Weird, overall.

One has to wonder just how many dozens or hundreds of similar things are going on right now undetected. Its all just become too big to manage.
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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by AndyTheGrump » Fri Sep 07, 2012 6:13 am

Careful Tarc, don't go improving Wikipedia, you'll get into trouble round here if you do that. ;)

Meanwhile, I see the ethno-taggers have got at Ms Arana's article - Evidently she is most notable for being (a) a cheerleader, and (b) of Mexican descent. Surprisingly, though one of the images purports to show "Arana performing in a Raiders game", there is no indication as to what position she played... :blink:

I suppose I should check to see if there is a WP:Notability (cheerleaders) guideline, though I have a horrible feeling there might be. I'm sure she is a nice enough person (she likes animals, and plays soccer), but somehow she doesn't strike me as encyclopaedic material. Should We risk an AfD? Or maybe I should do some research, and expand the article a bit - the competition seems to have got ahead of us on this: http://www.mademan.com/chickipedia/erica-arana/. There seems to be some textual 'coincidence' (though who is ripping who off isn't clear), but Chickipedia seems to know her date of birth - or at least claims to. Some of the other statistics look a little understated though: 30" around the boobs? I think not. :evilgrin:

P.S. I've just checked, and our article used to have Ms Arana's 'statistics' at one point: "34C-25-34" apparently, which seems per pure WP:OR (and not a lot of that) to be more plausible. We also had a date of birth, which needless to say doesn't agree with the one on Chickipedia...

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by EricBarbour » Fri Sep 07, 2012 9:06 am

Tarc wrote:One has to wonder just how many dozens or hundreds of similar things are going on right now undetected. Its all just become too big to manage.
Wikipedia has more than 60,000 "biographies" of football players that look like Brigham's -- only they usually have NO references at all.
Nearly all were generated by bots scraping commercial websites, with no permission.

Get out there and fix 'em all, Tarc. Sucker.

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by thekohser » Fri Sep 07, 2012 10:34 am

AndyTheGrump wrote:Careful Tarc, don't go improving Wikipedia, you'll get into trouble round here if you do that. ;)
It's okay, Andy. Tarc came to the proper conclusion (see the final sentence of his post.) The question is, how long will it be before you also come to the correct conclusion?
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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Kelly Martin » Fri Sep 07, 2012 1:33 pm

Tarc wrote:Its all just become too big to manage.
I tried to argue with the Wikipediots in 2006 and 2007 that maintainability ought to be an inclusion consideration, and so low-notability topics should be deleted or at least suppressed from view, but Jimmy's "MY COCK IS NOT YET BIG ENOUGH WE MUST HAVE MOAR ARTICLES" won out.

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by The Devil's Advocate » Fri Sep 07, 2012 2:09 pm

Randy from Boise wrote:You are surprised that Batman's "youthful ward" named Dick who runs around in lycra shorts and sheer leggings is perceived as gay?

Perish the thought!

RfB
Well, it is kind of a ridiculous article, especially the image at the top. Most of the people contributing to the article are probably either in it for the lulz or interested in promoting Batman as gay for some political reason.

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by AndyTheGrump » Fri Sep 07, 2012 2:42 pm

Most of the people contributing to the article are probably either in it for the lulz or interested in promoting Batman as gay for some political reason.
Or possibly just enjoying the chance to contribute to an article where the blindingly obvious coincides with what the sources say, and to annoy the narrow-minded in the process. Come to think of it, the latter probably qualifies as 'politics'...

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by DanMurphy » Fri Sep 07, 2012 2:47 pm

Their right hand forget its cunning even before they started. I present the first three paragraphs of the article on Jerusalem so we can marvel together at the unfolding crowd-sourced horror.
The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (August 2012)
Jerusalem (play /dʒəˈruːsələm/; Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם‎‎ Yerushaláyim About this sound ; Arabic: القُدس‎ al-Quds About this sound and/or أورشليم Ûrshalîm) is the capital of Israel, though not internationally recognized as such,[ii] and one of the oldest cities in the world.[1] It is located in the Judean Mountains, between the Mediterranean Sea and the northern edge of the Dead Sea. If the area and population of East Jerusalem is included, it is Israel's largest city in both population and area,[2][3] with a population of 801,000 residents[4] over an area of 125.1 km2 (48.3 sq mi).[5][6][iii] Jerusalem is also a holy city to the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.[7] The oldest part of the city was settled in the 4th millennium BCE.[1] In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent. Today those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters.[8] The Old City became a World Heritage site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger.[9] Modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond its boundaries.

Jerusalem has been the holiest city in Jewish tradition since, according to the Hebrew Bible, King David of Israel first established it as the capital of the united Kingdom of Israel in c. 1000 BCE, and his son, King Solomon, commissioned the building of the First Temple in the city.[10] In Christian tradition, Jerusalem has been a holy city since, according to the New Testament, Jesus was crucified there, possibly in c. 33 CE,[11][12][13] and 300 years later Saint Helena identified the pilgrimage sites of Jesus' life. In Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city.[14][15] In Islamic tradition in 610 CE it became the first Qibla, the focal point for Muslim prayer (Salah),[16] and Muhammad made his Night Journey there ten years later.[17][18] As a result, despite having an area of only 0.9 square kilometres (0.35 sq mi),[19] the Old City is home to many sites of tremendous religious importance, among them the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque.


Adding: Looking at the talk page, as one would suspect, warfare founded on ethnic and religious hatred has found a new and fruitful home thanks to Wikipedia. This comment seems very sensible:

Those editors who believe that we are nearing consensus on the lead are, as they know, sorely mistaken. The moment anyone tries to make an actual edit to the article page, the pro-Israeli opponents of change will swoop down with arb-barbed talons to restore the woeful status quo.

The status quo, sanctified by hundreds of thousands of archived talk-page words, is, alas, the best that this committee can come up with. The pro-Israel campers have deified "capital" into a mountain range, and the anti-Israeli campers have added a rider and an exegetical footnote that points out the absurdity of that word. Fortunately, I doubt that any reader has ever read that footnote, and most readers, stymied by that Henry Jamesian first sentence, probably scurry to the online Britannica to read about the world's most contentious city.

In the classical meaning of zugzwang, any move a player makes results in a loss. But in this game, it is not the players that lose: whatever either side does, it is the reader who loses. --Ravpapa (talk) 05:01, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by The Devil's Advocate » Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:47 pm

AndyTheGrump wrote:Or possibly just enjoying the chance to contribute to an article where the blindingly obvious coincides with what the sources say, and to annoy the narrow-minded in the process. Come to think of it, the latter probably qualifies as 'politics'...
Undoubtedly, there are some who actually think there is some sort of encyclopedic justification for an entire article on homosexuality and perceived homosexuality in the Batman franchise. Most are probably exactly as I described, however.

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Peter Damian » Sat Sep 08, 2012 8:00 am

Cool_(aesthetic) (T-H-L)

Two points here. One, it's a really crap article. Two, the word 'cool' itself. Is it cool to use it? Jimbo uses it a lot, practically in every other sentence. Is it just one of those words that are completely meaningless but whose use is an attempt to ingratiate yourself with a certain group that is desirable to you?
οὐκ ἀγαθὸν πολυκοιρανίη: εἷς κοίρανος ἔστω

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by dogbiscuit » Sat Sep 08, 2012 8:21 am

Peter Damian wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_(aesthetic)

Two points here. One, it's a really crap article. Two, the word 'cool' itself. Is it cool to use it? Jimbo uses it a lot, practically in every other sentence. Is it just one of those words that are completely meaningless but whose use is an attempt to ingratiate yourself with a certain group that is desirable to you?
Cool as a word has been around for a generation, it has transcended being an in-word into just being commonplace. I think that there are nuances - there is the "cool" of meaning "good" which is as pointless as the casual use of "awesome" for something of mild interest, however, when someone says "That's not cool" there is another layer of meaning in there, suggesting a lack of fair play or morality.

Probably the biggest distinction between American English and British English that I hear is the causal use of alternative vocabulary in situations other than talking with mates. Take a look at Wiki-speak and you'll see that mix of Americanisms and techno-speak, which other users feel compelled to adopt. I always recall listening to American specialists on Horizon and they speak in a very sophisticated way, same with "Air Crash Investigation", and it gives an air of knowledge. American police on TV cop shows do the same thing, but don't have the education to back it up.
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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Kelly Martin » Sat Sep 08, 2012 3:37 pm

dogbiscuit wrote:I always recall listening to American specialists on Horizon and they speak in a very sophisticated way, same with "Air Crash Investigation", and it gives an air of knowledge. American police on TV cop shows do the same thing, but don't have the education to back it up.
The use of polysyllabic words as a means to demonstrate erudition is a standard trope in American cinema. Rest assured that this is not universal across the United States; that's mainly Southern California culture (which tends to get reflected in American cinema because the American film industry is centered there). Midwesterners and especially Southerners are much less likely to do that.

Americans are not all of a piece, any more than Brits are. :)

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by dogbiscuit » Sat Sep 08, 2012 4:58 pm

Kelly Martin wrote:
dogbiscuit wrote:I always recall listening to American specialists on Horizon and they speak in a very sophisticated way, same with "Air Crash Investigation", and it gives an air of knowledge. American police on TV cop shows do the same thing, but don't have the education to back it up.
The use of polysyllabic words as a means to demonstrate erudition is a standard trope in American cinema. Rest assured that this is not universal across the United States; that's mainly Southern California culture (which tends to get reflected in American cinema because the American film industry is centered there). Midwesterners and especially Southerners are much less likely to do that.

Americans are not all of a piece, any more than Brits are. :)
I've been picked up on that before. ;) I think the generalisation is that there is seen in Wikipedia though, where there is a tendency to feign intellect with vocab, and Americanisms. I notice that some Brits seem to adopt them to fit in. I'll have to dig up some examples where it jars.
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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Cedric » Sat Sep 08, 2012 9:26 pm

Kelly Martin wrote:
dogbiscuit wrote:I always recall listening to American specialists on Horizon and they speak in a very sophisticated way, same with "Air Crash Investigation", and it gives an air of knowledge. American police on TV cop shows do the same thing, but don't have the education to back it up.
The use of polysyllabic words as a means to demonstrate erudition is a standard trope in American cinema. Rest assured that this is not universal across the United States; that's mainly Southern California culture (which tends to get reflected in American cinema because the American film industry is centered there). Midwesterners and especially Southerners are much less likely to do that.

Americans are not all of a piece, any more than Brits are. :)
As a native Midwesterner that has lived in The South for several years now, I can certainly vouch for that. We can often be more blunt and caustic (sometimes in a passive-aggressive way) than our supposedly more sophisticated cousins on the East and West Coasts. One of my father's favorite observations was, "That boy doesn't know his ass-hole from a hole in the ground" (the "d" in "ground" generally being silent). I suppose I could come up with a more southern-California-friendly polysyllabic formulation of that, but I do not know to do that without seeming like what our British cousins would call a "pompous prat." :D

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Re: Crap articles

Unread post by Tarc » Sun Sep 09, 2012 12:11 am

The Devil's Advocate wrote:
AndyTheGrump wrote:Or possibly just enjoying the chance to contribute to an article where the blindingly obvious coincides with what the sources say, and to annoy the narrow-minded in the process. Come to think of it, the latter probably qualifies as 'politics'...
Undoubtedly, there are some who actually think there is some sort of encyclopedic justification for an entire article on homosexuality and perceived homosexuality in the Batman franchise. Most are probably exactly as I described, however.
Reminds me of Sexuality in Star Trek (T-H-L). An article so atrocious that even DGG, one of the primary inclusionists though not an ARS dogmatic, has tried to get it deleted in the past.
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