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<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=468590320-12032006>To
answer the key question:</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=468590320-12032006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#660000><SPAN class=468590320-12032006>So,
WHO IS WRITING THIS NONSENSE?</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=468590320-12032006>Anyone. </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=468590320-12032006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=468590320-12032006>The design of a Wiki (the Wikipedia being the
best-known example) supports the practice that all readers can be writers:
if you read an article that strikes you as incomplete or incorrect or otherwise
not serving its purpose, fix it. There's no authority to process
a suggestion or a complaint; no publisher to accept or reject your
credentials; no editor to ensure that what you have done is consistent with what
other writers have done. If you are a reader, you can be a writer; if you don't
like an article, you can change it so that you do like it; later, if
another reader thinks of something else to add or enhance about the article,
that reader has just as much right as you do to change the
article. </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=468590320-12032006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=468590320-12032006>Who is writing this nonsense? You, if you'd like. If
not, the nonsense is written by anyone else who does like to write
it. </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=468590320-12032006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=468590320-12032006>The goal of a Wiki is to make it easy for everyone to
pool knowledge; if we all help, contributing our best knowledge about Subject X,
we can know much more than if we all work alone. </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=468590320-12032006>Of course, one huge impediment toward meeting this goal
is the reality that most of the people who know the most about any
Subject X are too busy working with it directly to spend time adding their
knowledge to the Wikipedia; articles are more likely to be written by the
biggest fan of Subject X, someone who cares a great deal about it and
wishes everyone else did, than by the leading expert on Subject X. That's the
current situation; it doesn't have to be the permanent situation.
</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=468590320-12032006></SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2><SPAN class=468590320-12032006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=468590320-12032006>There are four tabs across the top of every Wikipedia
page (except a very few for basic administrative matters):</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=468590320-12032006>Click <STRONG>article</STRONG> to read the text
itself.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=468590320-12032006>Click <STRONG>discussion</STRONG> to read what people
have said about the text, or to say something about it
yourself.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=468590320-12032006>Click <STRONG>edit this page</STRONG> to change the
text (which includes adding links, the best thing to do if detailed
information is available elsewhere)</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=468590320-12032006>Click <STRONG>history</STRONG> to see a log of
changes to the text.</SPAN></FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=468590320-12032006>It's easy to change Wikipedia articles; for anyone
who'd like to experiment with the process, my suggestion is to go make some
changes rather than wishing somebody else would.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><STRONG><FONT face="Comic Sans MS"
color=#800000></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face="Comic Sans MS"><FONT color=#800000>rose<SPAN
class=468590320-12032006> coste</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="mailto:rcoste@tamu.edu"><SPAN
class=468590320-12032006>rcoste@tamu.edu</SPAN></A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><A
href="http://www.scribionics.com/CV/coste.htm">http://www.scribionics.com/CV/coste.htm</A><SPAN
class=468590320-12032006> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><STRONG><FONT face="Comic Sans MS"
color=#800000></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><STRONG><FONT face="Comic Sans MS"
color=#800000></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><BR>
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