Wikipedia, Anyone?

[Halo]

What do all you freethinking cyber aces think about Wikipedia, the on-line free encyclopedia?  

Freewheeling do it yourself articles and edits, growing like crazy, the peoples' global self-help source of all knowledge?  Or useless unregulated everybody-is-expert clutter?

Any Aces High subscribers write or edit any articles on Wikipedia?  Wikipedia has some interesting stuff, and could further benefit from some of the expertise demonstrated on the Aces High bulletin board.

[Octavius]

I frequent that 'encyclopedia' every so often, but it doesn't have many scholarly sources.  Ie, you can't cite any referrences to that in a collegiate paper.  Anyone who cites ANY encyclopedia should be shot

[Chairboy]

I'm a frequent contributor to Wikipedia, mostly edits, but I've written a few short articles.

I've found that the data is usually of very high quality, at least on subjects that I'm directly familiar with.

[Halo]

In the short time I've looked at it, Wikipedia seems interesting.  Fascinating concept.  So I accepted its invitation and wrote a snazzy little article on Combat Flight Simulation since there was no topic like that and Wiki invited me to start one.

After I wrote and previewed it, when I tried to save it Wiki said someone had intervened (already? gotta be a gatekeeper editor)and decreed it should be redirected to Flight Simulation.  

I didn't think it belonged there or that's where I would have put it in the first place.  Wiki warned I had to merge my text or all that would be saved was the redirection command.

So I merged my text, saved it under the Redirect to Flight Simulators, and ... it all gone.

Hopefully into an approval assembly line somewhere.  

But it sure looks lost at the moment.

Unless it turns up soon, I'm not going to mess around learning all of Wiki's writing protocol.  Real Janus so far -- all foreplay and no climax.

So, why don't one of you more technically competent participants add Aces High and Combat Flight Simulation to Wikimedia?  The flight simulation area is not complete without combat flight simulation and Aces High.

[Halo]

Looks like Wikipedia at least is considering my article, although at the moment the only result is boiling down my six paragraphs or so to one sentence saying combat flight simulators are popular such as Aces High (which presumably will eventually be a link).

Okay, even if that's all we get, mission accomplished.  Combat flight simulators and Aces High are included.  At least it's a start.

Since Wikipedia articles supposedly can be edited anytime by anyone, have at it.  Look for Flight Simulators.

[Halo]

And now ... all within a half hour, the paragraph about combat flight simulators and Aces High is gone from the Wikipedia flight simulator article.

Go figure.  I can appreciate volatile references, but this is incendiary.

[Halo]

One more thought ... Wikimedia asserts no commercial plugs, so I was careful to keep Aces High acceptable.  

Take a look at the extensive X-Plane reference and link.  If that isn't a commercial plug, I've never seen one.

[straffo]

it's here an AH got his own article : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aces_High
so your work was not lost

[Halo]

Thanks, Straffo.  Dunno what happened, but someone wrote a great article about Aces High and now it is there with links and everything in the Flight Simulators article.

I couldn't find anything about combat flight simulators or Aces High when I discovered Wixipedia yesterday, so maybe my Combat Flight Simulators article submission at least triggered the Aces High input.  

The editing function was nearly instantaneous as I corrected the spelling of opponents.  Big deal, huh?  Every little bit counts.  

Whoever submitted the published article, way to go!

Wixipedia reminds me of the Aces High bulletin board: dynamic and sustained by enthusiasts with relatively unheralded but often quite impressive expertise.