Crap articles

[arthur]

But then, why does the article need to show a cover at all? Oh yes, because WP is NOTCENSORED.

[Jim]

But then, why does the article need to show a cover at all? Oh yes, because WP is NOTCENSORED.

Nah, that's WP:PICTURESAREPRETTYANDEVERYARTICLENEEDSONE. NOTCENSORED comes in when someone says "but boobs..." HTH.

[Zironic]

There are other security measures I've taken now as well that are better left unspoken.

Now to actually contribute something to this topic, while looking up that statistical fact to poke Zoloft with I encountered this wikipedia article Sex differences in crime (T-H-L) which contained this wonder of a paragraph:

One study argued that it was the above-cited Dekeseredy et al. that in fact improperly contextualized partner violence; Dekeseredy's campus study was based around asking women and only women if their violence was in self-defense, and not permitting the same for men. This results in counting men who had defended themselves as perpetrators, and counting women who may have engaged in ex post facto justification of their violence, a noted trait of psychological abuse, as victims.[20] The study further found that studies from the US Department of Justice did not contextualize violence simply by not counting women perpetrators until forced to by the US Center for Disease Control. Other studies that decontextualized partner violence included labeling aggregate findings of motivations for violence that included the desire to coerce or control the partner or being angry with the partner as "striking back" when such questions revealed that women scored equal to or higher than men in desires to use violence out of simple anger or to coerce and control the partner.[21] This however is contradicted by other reviews which found women's prime motivation were triggered by anger or self-defence while men more through control.[22][23] But other studies have also postulated that when other factors such as allowing both or neither gender to claim self-defense, or simply including male victims and female perpetrators in the sample, the results were at or near parity for perpetrators and victims, with the results near parity sometimes favoring females and sometimes favoring males. Another large study reveals that women are between two to three times as likely to be the offender in non-reciprocal partner violence. The study suggests that while women are far more prone to be the sole offender, reciprocal violence where both partners use violence has higher frequency of serious injuries, and that these injuries more often have female victims than male.[24]

Personally I lost track of which studies were arguing what about halfway through.

[tarantino]

NURP.38.BPC.6 (T-H-L)

NURP.38.BPC.6 was a pigeon who received the Dickin Medal in 1946 from the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals for bravery in service during the Second World War.

The Rambling Man (T-C-L) created 22 one sentence articles on medal-winning pigeons, all referenced to a web page that's not there anymore.

[trout]

OpenBSD (T-H-L) is a "featured article" which might be expected to be held to a higher standard than the common Wikipedia articles. However, it's written like an advertisement. For example

The project is also widely known for the developers' insistence on open-source code and quality documentation, uncompromising position on software licensing, and focus on security and code correctness.

In fact OpenBSD isn't widely known for most of these, which are common to similar free operating systems. The only one of these which it's widely known for is its "focus on security". The article goes on in similar fashion. Also interesting is that the article makes heavy use of "self-published sources". It doesn't seem to contain a single word of criticism about its subject.

[Hex]

Anglo-Saxon law (T-H-L):

Charters

A fourth group might be made of the charters, BUT they are based on Old English private and public law and supply us with most important materials in regard to it. Looking somewhat deeper at the sources from which Old English law was derived, we shall have to modify our classification to some extent, as the external forms of publication, although important from the point of view of historical criticism, are not sufficient standards as to the juridical character of the various kinds of qq33aa1

Hello to another one of our faithful readers.

Unfortunately, reverting the vandalism doesn't do anything about huge chunks of the article having been copied from EB1911, as the horrendously dated writing style makes obvious. "But indirectly Roman law did exert a by no means insignificant influence through the medium of the Church"... blecch! Although somebody put a "This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia" label on it, so hey, you know, helping.

[Anroth]

I tried to rephrase that in my head and gave up when I ended up with 'Through the medium of the church, Roman law indirectly influenced....'

[trout]

Hello to another one of our faithful readers.

Interestingly, the edit immediately prior to the one linked above is either incompetence or possibly subtle vandalism, and yet nobody altered it:

previous edit removes a wikilink and puts in an incorrect closing parenthesis.

[Poetlister]

"This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia"

Wouldn't Wikipedia be a lot better if it were rewritten to the standard of EB 1911, dated though that is?

[Johnny Au]

The English Wikipedia would improve significantly if every article had pending changes, just like the German Wikipedia. Reviewers would be those with Britannica-like qualifications.

[Newyorkbrad]

The English Wikipedia would improve significantly if every article had pending changes, just like the German Wikipedia. Reviewers would be those with Britannica-like qualifications.

It occurs to me that I should know more about the German Wikipedia experience than I do. How well do the reviewers on the German Wikipedia keep up with the proposed changes? How long is the backlog? In general, are bad changes properly rejected and good changes properly accepted? And, what are the required qualifications for reviewers? Is there an application process or is any autoconfirmed editor with an account automatically able to approve changes?

[Vigilant]

The English Wikipedia would improve significantly if every article had pending changes, just like the German Wikipedia. Reviewers would be those with Britannica-like qualifications.

I agree.
There's the potential for Pending Changes to be a quality ratchet.

[Poetlister]

The English Wikipedia would improve significantly if every article had pending changes, just like the German Wikipedia. Reviewers would be those with Britannica-like qualifications.

I very much doubt that many of the German reviewers are that well qualified. If we could get this on the English site, where would we get such experts? Pending changes would prevent gross vandalism and discourage weird, unsourced or very badly sourced changes. Highly desirable, but not I suspect nearly as good as many people think.

[Jim]

I very much doubt that many of the German reviewers are that well qualified.

Probably not, but here's a link to an expert opinion on the general subject: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6000&p=127682#p127764.
Hey, you were even there - small world.

[Poetlister]

I very much doubt that many of the German reviewers are that well qualified.

Probably not, but here's a link to an expert opinion on the general subject: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6000&p=127682#p127764.
Hey, you were even there - small world.

Yes, I'm not unfamiliar with the German Wikipedia by any means. Pending changes there are undoubtedly a very good thing. But Johnny was saying that "Reviewers would be those with Britannica-like qualifications", and there aren't many of those. If we could get some on English WP, would the community appoint them as reviewers, or allow them to be the only reviewers, given the usual prejudice against experts? Would the WMF step in and appoint them?

[Jim]

But Johnny was saying that "Reviewers would be those with Britannica-like qualifications"

Ah yes, I missed that, sorry. I agree that's extremely unlikely, and sounds like a flight of fancy.

[Johnny Au]

If Britannica-like experts are rare, then perhaps it could be broadened to those with PhDs from "prestigious" universities as well, though individually screened for credentials.

[Ihatemyusername]

Princess Leia's bikini (T-H-L)

I can't possibly describe it. Just read it.

[trout]

Princess Leia's bikini (T-H-L)

I can't possibly describe it. Just read it.

For those who doubt, here is a sample of the awfulness:

Some say the bikini, worn in the first act of Return of the Jedi, was designed after Fisher's complaints that the loose-fitting outfits she wore in Star Wars concealed her feminine physique,[3] but Fisher has later denied this.[4] Rodgers said that Lucas gave her only general instructions about the scene in Jabba's palace, but wanted a special costume. She originally wanted 25 yards of fabric to be flowing through the scene", but couldn't make it work.[1]

Drivel.

[The Joy]

Princess Leia's bikini (T-H-L)

I can't possibly describe it. Just read it.

It gets worse...

Category:Individual bikinis (T-H-L)

[Johnny Au]

At least there isn't an article about Rey's bikini yet. Rey is the main female lead in the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

[Poetlister]

At least there isn't an article about Rey's bikini yet. Rey is the main female lead in the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

I think it's very likely that there will be one in a month or two, maybe as soon as someone can upload a reasonable "fair use" photo. Needless to say, none of the articles in that category could possibly deserve a place in a serious work of reference.

[Hex]

I know that abstruse topics of philosophy can be hard to get into, but Hauntology (T-H-L), this intro - really?

Hauntology (a portmanteau of haunt and ontology (T-H-L)) refers to the state of temporal, historical, and ontological disjunction in which the ostensible immediacy of presence [metaphysics of presence (T-H-L)] is replaced by "the figure of the ghost as that which is neither present, nor absent, neither dead nor alive". The term was coined by philosopher Jacques Derrida (T-H-L) in his 1993 book Spectres of Marx (T-H-L).

The concept of hauntology is closely related to Derrida's deconstruction (T-H-L) of Western philosophy's logocentrism (T-H-L), which results in the fundamental deconstructive claim that being (T-H-L) does not entail presence. Asserting that there is no temporal point of pure origin but only an "always-already (T-H-L) absent present," deconstruction identifies "haunting [as] the state proper to being as such." The word functions as a deliberate near-homophone to "ontology" in Derrida's native French.

[Textnyymi]

The English Wikipedia would improve significantly if every article had pending changes, just like the German Wikipedia. Reviewers would be those with Britannica-like qualifications.

Pending changes and mandatory BLP blanking if the subject carries out legal threats! Would that be too much for the Section 230 lovers?

[Moral Hazard]

I know that abstruse topics of philosophy can be hard to get into, but Hauntology (T-H-L), this intro - really?

Hauntology (a portmanteau of haunt and ontology (T-H-L)) refers to the state of temporal, historical, and ontological disjunction in which the ostensible immediacy of presence [metaphysics of presence (T-H-L)] is replaced by "the figure of the ghost as that which is neither present, nor absent, neither dead nor alive". The term was coined by philosopher Jacques Derrida (T-H-L) in his 1993 book Spectres of Marx (T-H-L).

The concept of hauntology is closely related to Derrida's deconstruction (T-H-L) of Western philosophy's logocentrism (T-H-L), which results in the fundamental deconstructive claim that being (T-H-L) does not entail presence. Asserting that there is no temporal point of pure origin but only an "always-already (T-H-L) absent present," deconstruction identifies "haunting [as] the state proper to being as such." The word functions as a deliberate near-homophone to "ontology" in Derrida's native French.

Many French "intellectuals" were in a ponzi scheme, which collapsed after the hoax by Alan Sokal.
Derrida is full of shit.

[Zoloft]

I know that abstruse topics of philosophy can be hard to get into, but Hauntology (T-H-L), this intro - really?

Hauntology (a portmanteau of haunt and ontology (T-H-L)) refers to the state of temporal, historical, and ontological disjunction in which the ostensible immediacy of presence [metaphysics of presence (T-H-L)] is replaced by "the figure of the ghost as that which is neither present, nor absent, neither dead nor alive". The term was coined by philosopher Jacques Derrida (T-H-L) in his 1993 book Spectres of Marx (T-H-L).

The concept of hauntology is closely related to Derrida's deconstruction (T-H-L) of Western philosophy's logocentrism (T-H-L), which results in the fundamental deconstructive claim that being (T-H-L) does not entail presence. Asserting that there is no temporal point of pure origin but only an "always-already (T-H-L) absent present," deconstruction identifies "haunting [as] the state proper to being as such." The word functions as a deliberate near-homophone to "ontology" in Derrida's native French.

Many French "intellectuals" were in a ponzi scheme, which collapsed after the hoax by Alan Sokal.
Derrida is full of shit.

Perhaps. But is it shit that has been reported on by a verifiable source?

[greyed.out.fields]

I know that abstruse topics of philosophy can be hard to get into, but Hauntology (T-H-L), this intro - really?

Hauntology (a portmanteau of haunt and ontology (T-H-L)) refers to the state of temporal, historical, and ontological disjunction in which the ostensible immediacy of presence [metaphysics of presence (T-H-L)] is replaced by "the figure of the ghost as that which is neither present, nor absent, neither dead nor alive". The term was coined by philosopher Jacques Derrida (T-H-L) in his 1993 book Spectres of Marx (T-H-L).

The concept of hauntology is closely related to Derrida's deconstruction (T-H-L) of Western philosophy's logocentrism (T-H-L), which results in the fundamental deconstructive claim that being (T-H-L) does not entail presence. Asserting that there is no temporal point of pure origin but only an "always-already (T-H-L) absent present," deconstruction identifies "haunting [as] the state proper to being as such." The word functions as a deliberate near-homophone to "ontology" in Derrida's native French.

Many French "intellectuals" were in a ponzi scheme, which collapsed after the hoax by Alan Sokal.
Derrida is full of shit.

Perhaps. But is it shit that has been reported on by a verifiable source?

Perhaps a good place to start would be in the works of Henri Mensonge, in particular his classic of deconstruction, La fornication comme acte culturel.

"It is also the philosophy that goes along with everything else we know so well now -our chiliasm, our apocalypticism, our post-humanist scepticism, our postmodernism, our metaphysical exhaustion, our taste for falafel."

[Kingsindian]

Many French "intellectuals" were in a ponzi scheme, which collapsed after the hoax by Alan Sokal.
Derrida is full of shit.

To be fair, Sokal (and Bricmont) only criticized the abuse of physics by these intellectuals, not their whole work. Of course, if someone thinks that the penis is the square root of minus one, they may be full of shit in other things as well.

If I recall correctly, Derrida wasn't discussed much in their book and the hoax. Other authors provided much more fruitful material.

[greyed.out.fields]

The Californias (T-H-L)

"One of Wikipedia's longest running hoaxes (about 8 years, 11 months", apparently.
Up for speedy deletion, so check it out, may not be there very soon.

[Zoloft]

The Californias (T-H-L)

"One of Wikipedia's longest running hoaxes (about 8 years, 11 months", apparently.
Up for speedy deletion, so check it out, may not be there very soon.

Click for full-size image.

[Poetlister]

It's gone. But you have to admire the author's attitude:

Delete OK I messed up. I just wanted to leave my mark in a bunch of things on the internet. So I made some things up. Is that so wrong? I didnt't hurt anybody. So, go ahead and delete The Californias and Viceroyalty of New Spain. So what? Now I admitted what I did, don't block me. WCCCasey (talk) 08:25, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

The account is not, and never has been, blocked. Will that change?

[AndyTheGrump]

It's gone. But you have to admire the author's attitude:

Delete OK I messed up. I just wanted to leave my mark in a bunch of things on the internet. So I made some things up. Is that so wrong? I didnt't hurt anybody. So, go ahead and delete The Californias and Viceroyalty of New Spain. So what? Now I admitted what I did, don't block me. WCCCasey (talk) 08:25, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

The account is not, and never has been, blocked. Will that change?

The account was only created a few hours ago...

[Hex]

It's gone. But you have to admire the author's attitude:

Delete OK I messed up. I just wanted to leave my mark in a bunch of things on the internet. So I made some things up. Is that so wrong? I didnt't hurt anybody. So, go ahead and delete The Californias and Viceroyalty of New Spain. So what? Now I admitted what I did, don't block me. WCCCasey (talk) 08:25, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

The account is not, and never has been, blocked. Will that change?

The account was only created a few hours ago...

A comment on the AfD claims it was the work of WCCasey (T-C-L), not "WCCCasey". But WCCasey appears to be a legitimate user. The hoax seems to previously have been at Las Californias Province (T-H-L), which was created by a sockpuppet of a banned user called Tobias Conradi (T-C-L). I'm guessing "WCCCasey" is another Conradi sockpuppet. The accusing account, Castanea dentata (T-C-L), previously only edited in the area of English ecclesiastical history, and went dormant in 2009 - until posting the AfD comment. I suspect it as having been hacked.

[Johnny Au]

Not only does "The Californias" has an article in English, it is also in other languages as well. The other languages are Catalan, German, Spanish, Basque, French, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian (Bokmal), Portuguese, Russian, and Mandarin.

[Hex]

Uno, Arkansas (T-H-L)

Uno is an unincorporated community in Poinsett County, Arkansas, in the United States.

Uno has been noted for its unusual place name.

That's the whole thing. Dazzling.

[SneakySasha]

It's gone. But you have to admire the author's attitude:

Delete OK I messed up. I just wanted to leave my mark in a bunch of things on the internet. So I made some things up. Is that so wrong? I didnt't hurt anybody. So, go ahead and delete The Californias and Viceroyalty of New Spain. So what? Now I admitted what I did, don't block me. WCCCasey (talk) 08:25, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

The account is not, and never has been, blocked. Will that change?

The account was only created a few hours ago...

A comment on the AfD claims it was the work of WCCasey (T-C-L), not "WCCCasey". But WCCasey appears to be a legitimate user. The hoax seems to previously have been at Las Californias Province (T-H-L), which was created by a sockpuppet of a banned user called Tobias Conradi (T-C-L). I'm guessing "WCCCasey" is another Conradi sockpuppet. The accusing account, Castanea dentata (T-C-L), previously only edited in the area of English ecclesiastical history, and went dormant in 2009 - until posting the AfD comment. I suspect it as having been hacked.

Could one simplify why Wighson (T-C-L) was blocked? Um, never mind, too many accounts.

[The Joy]

Olav V of Norway (T-H-L)

It's pretty saturated with patriotic and nationalist pomp. Isn't just sticking to the facts enough to show why Norwegians highly respect him?

[greyed.out.fields]

DYK that Loreto, Baja California Sur (T-H-L) served as the capital of Las Californias (T-H-L) from 1697 to 1777?

[Hex]

DYK that Loreto, Baja California Sur (T-H-L) served as the capital of Las Californias (T-H-L) from 1697 to 1777?

Well, this is awkward.

Special:WhatLinksHere/The Californias (T-H-L)
Special:WhatLinksHere/Las Californias (T-H-L)
Special:WhatLinksHere/Las Californias Province (T-H-L)

[Johnny Au]

The Californias is now listed as a hoax.

[greyed.out.fields]

The Californias is now listed as a hoax.

Are you familiar with the expression "Captain Obvious"?

[Johnny Au]

The Californias is now listed as a hoax.

Are you familiar with the expression "Captain Obvious"?

Yes. All I stated is that it is officially a hoax.

[tarantino]

The accusing account, Castanea dentata (T-C-L), previously only edited in the area of English ecclesiastical history, and went dormant in 2009 - until posting the AfD comment. I suspect it as having been hacked.

Back in 2008, both Castanea dentata and Wighson voted to keep Liite Buddhism. They've always been the same guy. He's the owner of http://liites.blogspot.com .

Also, The_Californias (T-H-L) is and wasn't a hoax, just a crappy article.

[SneakySasha]

How 'bout this one, Katia's Russian Tea Room (T-H-L)?

Love the IP comment on the talk page, How to make an article: Let 90% of the text be links.

[Hex]

The accusing account, Castanea dentata (T-C-L), previously only edited in the area of English ecclesiastical history, and went dormant in 2009 - until posting the AfD comment. I suspect it as having been hacked.

Back in 2008, both Castanea dentata and Wighson voted to keep Liite Buddhism. They've always been the same guy. He's the owner of http://liites.blogspot.com .

Also, The_Californias (T-H-L) is and wasn't a hoax, just a crappy article.

Well found. From his comments on the talk page, and what he did with the impersonating account, he seems to have several screws loose.

[Jim]

Phantom vibration syndrome (T-H-L)

Phantom vibration syndrome or phantom ringing is the perception that one's mobile phone is vibrating or ringing, when in fact the telephone is not doing so.

Phantom ringing may be experienced while taking a shower, watching television, or using a noisy device.

Causes
The cause of phantom vibrations is not known...

Management
There is little research on treatment for phantom vibrations.
Carrying the cell phone in a different position reduces phantom vibrations for some people.
Other methods include turning off the vibrate mode or using a different device.

Epidemiology
...
Most people are not seriously bothered by the sensations.

From the talkpage, in 2011:

Wow
An entire article based on one newspaper article - in turn based on a students paper ? This is possibly the most embarrassing and pointless article on wikipedia. Desperate stuff. 94.8.171.17

Never mind, fixed, in 2012:

The result of the proposal was Move Phantom ringing → Phantom Vibration Syndrome. -- PBS (talk) 17:52, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Phew.

[thekohser]

The Californias is now listed as a hoax.

They seem pretty real to me...

[Johnny Au]

Ice hockey stick (T-H-L)
Just read the first paragraph of the History section.

[lilburne]

Ice hockey stick (T-H-L)
Just read the first paragraph of the History section.

But it is impossible to read almost any wikipedia paragraph, without barfing or falling asleep.

[Sockpuppet]

Ice hockey stick (T-H-L)
Just read the first paragraph of the History section.

That is just horrid, well that's what you get writing by committee. Some articles are worse than others, most of the time its a medical article.