'Re: [WikiEN-l] Writing style (was: a valid criticism)' - MARC

[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List: wikien-l
Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] Writing style (was: a valid criticism)
From: Delirium <delirium () hackish ! org>
Date: 2005年10月07日 20:44:00
Message-ID: 4346DE10.8030902 () hackish ! org
[Download RAW message or body]
David Gerard wrote:
>Oh goodness yes. We need *good writers* in general.
>
>I have a pile of links on style on my user page:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:David_Gerard#My_personal_style_guide
>
>I will often see a badly-written article on something I know about and
>do some rewriting with edit summary "tighten [section name]".
>
>My favourite writing style is still that found in The Economist:
>incredibly tight writing, giving simple sentences with a fantastic
>density of information. They're not interested in NPOV - some of the
>casual opinionation really makes me think of a friend's summary: "I
>love The Economist. It's like a really rational guy on crack." - but I
>think we have a *lot* to learn from their writing style.
> 
>
I agree we need good writing, but I think trying to coerce everyone into 
some common "Wikipedia house writing style" is not going to work, even 
if we could agree on what it should be (which is not possible). Some 
people think many of our articles are too chatty and informal, and would 
prefer we adopt a tone more like an academic work. Others think we're 
already too academic and should go more for a popular-press type of 
tone. I like the variety of writing styles myself.
That said, I do often edit for style, but I try to confine myself to 
clarifying things that are confusing, or changing particularly bad or 
anachronistic styles. I certainly wouldn't go through and try to make 
articles conform to my personal style preferences in general, though.
-Mark
_______________________________________________
WikiEN-l mailing list
WikiEN-l@Wikipedia.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]