Researching something and looking at a Wikipedia article on the subject (its all the Google juice that gets these things promoted), I spotted a clear error.

I considered editing the page myself and correcting the error.

Then I thought better of it.

Time taken for decision: Less than 0.5 seconds

When I can reject the idea in the blink of an eye, then I shall truly know salvation.

I had a similar experience recently. I posted in November/December on this board about an obvious piece of vandalism I had spotted, wondering whether to fix it. I did decide to fix it an hour later. Just two weeks ago, I came across an obvious spelling error in the first section of the "parsonage" article on Wikipedia. I recognized it as IP vandalism, so I reverted a few versions and read the proper article, but I did not "save page" so the article probably still contains the error.

It took me more than 0.5 seconds, but the principle is true: if you stop caring about dumb mistakes in Wikipedia, you have moved on. I have finally moved on - at least I hope so.

I do correct obvious mistakes on WP pages but if I believe there is any chance of an edit war I stay clear of editing.

Call me addicted if you wish but I believe it's basic decency.

I used to try cleaning up the Indian military articles, but they are just too confusing! Many need to be rewritten. It's almost like they were written in another language then Babel Fished into English.

After a while, you just give up. No sense digging through mud trying to find pearls.

And if I read one more Indian military biography that reads like
I shall scream!

And, you know, I'm not so sure General Ramalamadingdong is such a great man. I mean, what has he done for India or for me lately?

General Ramalamadingdong might not be such a great man, but Lieutenant General Bompshabompshabomp is truly awesome.

I've always been partial to Field Marshal Tonytonybobony Bonanafannafofony myself...

I'm guessing he's referring to articles like this one for Gen. Sundararajan Padmanabhan:

Another uncategorized BLP, btw...

A lot of the Indian military biographies are almost treated like saints. Like the one below:

Deepak Kapoor

Some excerpts:





I'm not saying this is a puff piece. He may have done some heroic things (in some people's eyes, at least), but the editors of these articles tend to create a tone that is very propagandist and treat the subject as almost god-like. And to go back to the original topic of why I don't correct Wikipedia, would you want to meddle with such articles and possibly get involved with Indian nationalists? I don't want to be called a Kashmiri insurgent! I noticed not too long ago that there was some edit warring on Indian military articles like the Arjun tank. I ain't dealing with that! No way!

Which anyone with connecting neurones can see is biased POV.

But POV or not POV, the people writing the stuff obviously know the General and his biography. Now, how am I - who haven't ever heard about the General - going to correct this mess?

Either I leave it like it is, allowing obvious lies to remain in the "encyclopedia", or I try to fix it, and will probably make it even worse, because I ignore the subject.

Or, of course, I can stick a "POV" tag on the article. But if the all people who know the General (and can stand a edit war) actually loooove the General, what's the point? It will be removed.

And unless we actually have a source clearly stating that the General isn't a Great Man married with a goat and children, isn't the conclusion that the article is POV merely OR?

Luís Henrique

When General Wompbompaloomopawomp-bam-boom was killed by direct artillery barrage, he was replaced by the more cautious General Tingtangwalawalabingbang...

Just when you are starting to think WR is almost respectable, you get this kind of effortless and casual racism just to show you why it, really, isn't.

Do-Wop Uber Alles!

Moulton and Milton are guilty of nothing more than ignorant silliness. This is vicious racism. Go clean your own house.

A whaaaaa.....?

I don't have a house, and if I did, Wikipedia certainly wouldn't be it. That picture is very sneaky though. Looks innocent enough on its own, but really...

Racism? I was only making fun of the long, unpronounceable names. I apologize if making fun of long names offends those with the names, but I am no racist. I regret that just using a stand-in name like "Ramalamadingdong" has now begun to derail the thread.

Edit: Upon further thought, maybe I did stray into insensitive waters. I apologize.

Perhaps you can explain why editing Wikipedia is not pointless? That is the subject of this thread.

I will explain it to you in simple terms. Westerners often mock Indians and Chinese by very simple means, such as making fun of their names and their language. You indulged in that retarded act. Hence, I called you a racist, because that is what you were. I will call it "The Apu factor". Apu, of course doesn't sound even remotely like somebody speaking English with an Indian accent, but hey! He is funny!

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...oldid=283748898

Looks like Jaguar's Paw (T-C-L-K-R-D) is a reader here. I hope no POV pushers come after him for making the general less "illustrious."

Editing wikipedia may be pointless for a variety of reasons. That Indians have names that people who aren't aware of any cultures beyond the Anglo ones can't comprehend is problem of said people, not India.

As for derailing the thread, isn't it funny how you didn't complain about the racist posts previous to this, and is focusing on the one calling the racists on ther BS?

Two of the most potent weapons against racism are comedy and music. In the US, there is a long tradition of popular music emerging from Black roots. Ragtime, Jazz, Gospel, Rhythm & Blues, and Rock & Roll all came from Black roots.

The Doo-Wop genre was an offshoot of American Rhythm & Blues. One of the last (and best remembered songs) of the Doo-Wop era was the self-referential Who Put the Bomp. In this classic number, Barry Mann sings about the frequent use of nonsense lyrics in Doo-Wop music, and how his girl fell in love with him after listening to several of such songs. The theme is illustrated by these partial lyrics:

Hi, Captain Obvious. I am Sergeant Didyaknow.

I refactored my comment above and apologized. I apologize again. As someone with a history degree, I should have known better. I will be more careful and sensitive in the future.

Welcome to the Review, by the way. Sorry that your first impressions of this place have been dampened by idiots like me.

I guess the theory is that one would know better than to hold a real guy (err gun) so close to their face. P.S. You'll shoot your eye out! Seems like one would also know better than to brandish a toy gun deliberately designed to look real, much less go taunt the soldiers with it. Let's just say studies have shown that's a good way to get shot, as in the following not-so-isolated incidents: [1][2][3][4][5].

But maybe the real journalists are vicious racists too, shrug.

Your Wikipedian friend is deliberately characterizing a innocent child as potential future combant, dehumanizing him. It is also completely possible that the pic is staged. Nothing in pic or any supporting documentation shows any provenance for the "toy." No doubt that Isreali soldiers often shoot first and ask questions later. That doesn't lessen Mr. "Shankbone's" maliciousness.

And Westerners mock other Westerners in the same sort of way.

Thanks for the heavy wet blanket on the fun. Nice use of "retarded" in your anti-mockery rant, though. That was funny.

Ah. But I never mentioned any nationality in my post. Perhaps you missed that? If I'd made fun of (say) the long name of an actual Bengali like Virendranath Chattopadhyaya, then you could have called " Apu Nahasapeemapetilon!" on me, and I would have be properly chagrinned at this terrible act of stereotypical madness regarding Bengali names. And you should write a letter to Matt Groening about poor Apu with the fake Bengali name and the man who voices him badly. Certainly, although he graduated at the top of his class of 7 million with a degree in computer science and works in a convenience store, he is an ethnic character being improperly made fun of. Though strangely he has a rather large fan-club. In any case, take it up with the Simpsons, not me.

--Ganapati Milton Roe Sundaralingam

Oh yes. So true. You never made any claim that your made-up names were of mock Hindi in origin. So true, so true. Hence, your posts were not thinly veiled western racism against India.

I don't really know what to make of your Simpsons rant either, except it confirms my view that you are not the sharpest tool in the shed. I take it you love Amos 'n' Andy?

Because in some cases, even if you correct errors, the whole page might be screwed or deleted at a later time, so making minor edits on the english wikipedia is generally only good for "grinding".

About as pointless as discussing whether or not editing Wikipedia is pointless.



Comic credit: Randall Munroe, xkcd.com

Well, that being the case, you're not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, either. You mentioned the Simpsons first, not me. My name origins were from American rock and roll. Get with the program. If you can't follow the discussion, STFU.

Lovingly,

M

Can't you see you're being trolled by Chef Fuckwaddee? Anybody who supports WP is already a LCD supporter of ignorance so who cares. Don't respond to it.

Mr. Desu, I understand what you're getting at here, but there's a fairly large grey area between comedy-that-involves-nationality and "racism." This grey area includes things like "politically incorrect humor" and "what is up with those crazy [insert nationality here]s?"

Political correctness is fine if that's what floats your boat, but labeling things of that nature as "racism" only serves the interests of the power-elites, at least in this case. If we were discussing underpaid workers at Indian outsourcing firms, or people with college degrees who immigrate to the US or UK only to become waiters and cab drivers, then you'd have a valid point. But since we're talking about generals, well then... it's certainly disrespectful, I'll grant you that, but racism it isn't.

"Indian generals" aren't a poor, dispossessed, unempowered minority. Quite frankly, their failure to deal fairly with the Pakistanis over the Kashmir area is probably the best chance the world has for seeing World War III during the next ten years, unless the Chinese decide to back up North Korea when they start lobbing nukes at their neighbors.

We make fun of Paris Hilton and George W. Bush too, y'know. Sometimes in the same sentence!

This isn't a problem of Wikipediareview; it is a problem of most, if not all, Anglo-saxon media.

And the name of the problem, by the way, is not racism; it's ethnocentrism.

Luís Henrique



While I agree with most of your post, this line of argument is not a good one. As Mr. Smith would say, "I call her sweetie, but she's Mrs. Smith to you".

Luís Henrique

Calm down everyone. Sun Tzu wrote that the greatest general wins without fighting battles.

I believe I recall the relevant quote:

"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting." - Sun Tzu

"Victory cannot be achieved by swanning about and reciting bad poetry, unless you are fighting an enemy that gives up or simply dies outright upon being exposed to that sort of thing."

- Unquotable: Sun-Tzu

Hah, another sign of e-minent health — I just had three days vacation in a posh hotel in another city and didn't even think of creating the customary quota of remote-control sockpuppets …

First time Dumbledore has ever been wrong about anything!

Jon

Damn ... could you not have just done so and then handed them over to the PACMAC community user account project?

Or me.

I have been thinking of employing Indian guys at some utterly indecent local wage rates just to sit at internet cafes or their IT support booths, and rack me up an admin account or two.

Little boys everywhere play with toy guns. It would be most surprising if Palestinian kids did not: they do, after all, live under military occupation.

On its own that photo isn't particularly bad; the way it was used, however, was disgusting.

Incredibly disgusting and vulgar ... but probably a reflection of the photograph himself who insists on labeling most of the images he uploads as "photo_title_by_David_Shankbone.jpg" in one of the most brazen and vulgar displays of professional advancement and self-advertizing I have seen on the Wikipedia to date.

I suspect the fact that so much of the New York fashion, media and agencies are so heavily run by Jews has more than a little to do with it ... partnerships with the Congress for Jewish Culture and access to interviews with war criminals like Shimon Peres aside. It would be professional suicide in Gotham City to have done anything less.

But how is this for a typical Pee-dia pay off? According to haaretz.com, the trip paid was paid for by the Israel government in collaboration with the America-Israel Friendship League.





David Shankbone and David Saranga proving that whoever wrote,
"There is no such thing as a free creme brulee" was an unreliable NPOV source.


.... more to follow.