Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers: Difference between revisions
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* Wikipedia's front page has this: "Welcome to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit." Last week I was visiting someone who has been using computers as a tool for over 20 years. I was showing him some of the boring articles I have written for Wikipedia. He had considered editing a Wikipedia article but put off by the convoluted syntax. What is wrong with just typing "September 11, 2001" or "8 August 2008"? The "anyone can edit" doesn't include many people who grew up using computers. The Wikimedia Foundation thinks that these non-technical editors would make valuable contributions if Wikipedia was easier to edit.[http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Wikipedia_to_become_more_user-friendly_for_new_volunteer_writers] -- [[User:Swtpc6800|SWTPC6800]] ([[User talk:Swtpc6800|talk]]) 19:07, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
:*Keep in mind that - as with any encoding - editors aren't obligated to add coding when they contribute. We don't insist that new editors apply bold or italic formatting, use section breaks, or even fuss over spelling; the emphasis is on content, as there are always more experienced editors who will clean up and format the new material. --'''[[User:Ckatz|Ckatz]]'''''<small><sup>[[User_talk:Ckatz|<font color="green">chat</font>]]</sup><sub>[[Special:Contributions/Ckatz|<font color="red">spy</font>]]</sub></small>'' 20:08, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
::When these non-technical potential contributors click on "edit this page" they see a blizzard of Wiki markup syntax and just give up. They don't contribute anything for the crew of experienced editors to clean up and format. -- [[User:Swtpc6800|SWTPC6800]] ([[User talk:Swtpc6800|talk]]) 20:28, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
Tony, why the persistent fear-mongering? This is a user-interface enhancement, in line with countless other innovations in technology that allow end users to have some measure of control over their viewing environment. It is being discussed, bugs, flaws, and possible glitches are being weeded out, and the community is fully involved in the development. The developer is eager to assist, and concerns raised in the RfCs and in previous discussions are being addressed. If we were to instead subscribe to the rhetoric in your post ("dangers", "burnt its fingers badly", "inevitable mess" to list but a few) we would never have moved past pen and paper. (How, for example, can you describe a technical feature like date formatting as a "risky experiment" when the entire body of information on this wiki is based on the premise that "anyone can edit"?) Again, if you do not want to use the feature, ''you can always disable it in your preferences''. Meanwhile, those who do value such a feature are free to take advantage of it. --'''[[User:Ckatz|Ckatz]]'''''<small><sup>[[User_talk:Ckatz|<font color="green">chat</font>]]</sup><sub>[[Special:Contributions/Ckatz|<font color="red">spy</font>]]</sub></small>'' 20:11, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
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