Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

The point is that his work (and by extension himself) was encyclopedia-worthy long before he got the prize. Or he wouldn't have gotten the prize. Wikipedia doesn't wait until after the oscars to include movie.



All of us were always free, and are still free, to contribute to making his wiki page better!


Wikipedia editors delete pages about people not deemed notable enough. Especially women: https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/wikipedia-bias-1.6129073 Meanwhile, a list of supplemental roads and rural secondary highways in Kentuck (3000-3499) is encyclopedia-worthy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kentucky_supplemental_...


If we assume that there is a group of people giving a concerted effort to acknowledge women in general, would that not lead to more articles about women being created? And, purely statistically, would not this in turn lead to more articles about women being rejected for being insufficiently notable? There is no need to assume bias in Wikipedia editors, the bias could just as well lie with those people who create the many rejected articles.

Also, one criteria which Wikipedia must, by necessity, use, is “published articles in other media about the subject”. If other media are, in general, biased, this would lead to a dearth of articles in other media, which in turn would lead to Wikipedia rejecting new WP articles.


What evidence is there for said concerted effort?



How is this statistical problem (which I’m prepared to acknowledge) an actual barrier preventing you from improving any given article?


Because I'm not going to put in the work just to see it deleted by zealous editors.


There is no basis in your purported belief that quality contributions that follow the rules will get deleted.

Wikipedia editors are not out there to suppress women— The fact that this de facto happens is more likely a reflection of systemic social issues.


Surely Wikipedia editors are part of society? So

> is more likely a reflection of systemic social issues.

contradicts

> Wikipedia editors are not out there to suppress women


The basis for my belief that it happens is that I've seen it happen.




I wanted you to provide links to what you have seen happen, like you said you had.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: