Re:Wikipedia users edits over 90k uses of “comprised of”
by klyrs on Saturday May 06, 2023 @11:21AM
(#35842201)
> On the other case, it wastes the attention of 90k authors who need to figure out whether they care and have their writing style overridden by a rando.
On the other hand, if you're editing wikipedia and you expect your writing to not be subject to rando edits, you won't last long.
I love wikis and knowledge bases but this is exactly the kind of stuff that detracts.
On one case, who cares what this person does with their time.
On the other case, it wastes the attention of 90k authors who need to figure out whether they care and have their writing style overridden by a rando.
I think the correct way to do this is to appeal to a writing style that gets argued over (sometimes perpetually) and when settled then the 90k edits can be made. This edit would be an argument presented to change the style guide.
Since “comprised of” is proper usage I doubt it would be proscribed in the style guide.
In my org I used to waste minutes of having writings where people expressed preferences for “and” vs “&” or Oxford comma or whether data are plural and edited things back and forth. Then I just found a style guide and adopted it and ask that people not revert changes based on preferences that break the style guide.