Thoughts on social media and subjectivity
Recently we were discussing Wikipedia’s anti-business bias: Wikipedians tend to find businesses ‘not notable’ and often dismiss entries about them as them as ‘advertising’. Whilst it is admirable to root out the many articles on Wikipedia which are barely-disguised pat pieces, just because Wikipedians don’t find business interesting doesn’t mean it isn’t. It’s as if the resurgence of the long tail has become its own kind of snobbery — a land where the entry for Anna Nicole Smith can stretch to several pages but where entries about famous businesses get deleted.
A similar debate has been going on on Cute Overload. Put simply: do possums make the cut? A Wiki ‘delete war’ can stretch out for weeks and hundreds of empassioned postings. Cute Overload — understanding the nature of social media, and therefore its community, opened and closed the debate within the space of two posts:
People, it’s tough at Cute O headquarters. We can never decide if possums are cute, or just horribly evil. (There is a fine line, and otters LOVE to jump back and forth across that line, taunting! always taunting!)
But I digest. Check out this dewd with this anerable paws. Don’t look at his schnozzle or ears tho. OK, you can look at his schnozzle.
Rebecca M. claims:
- They RULE in the Moist Nosicle category.
- They have a thumb without a nail on their back feet.
- They have elaborate whiskers.
- Their ears are pink when they’re babies and turn black as they grow up.
- They CARRY LEAVES CURLED UP IN THEIR TAILS — Come ON!
- And let’s not forget they carry their babies in a pouch — North America’s only marsupial.
Wikipedants, take note. There should be a joke here about possums and long tails, but frankly we’ve got better things to be getting on with.
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