Week8-How Wikipedia balances "comprehensiveness" with "readability"-Jiangjiashan（강가삼)

 

summary：


When editing Wikipedia, I found that as content continues to expand, editors face a core contradiction: long articles can lead to information overload, while short articles may omit crucial details. This dilemma significantly impacts readers' reading experience.Some topics (such as historical events and scientific theories) may contain a lot of details, with editors tending to "capture everything," leading to bloated entries.  Long entries may not reasonably use subchapters, tables, or information boxes, leading to confusing information.Popular topics (such as popular culture) are detailed, while niche fields (such as certain mathematical theories) may contain only skeletons. Wikipedia requires "verifiability," and editors cannot expand on a topic if it lacks reliable sources. Newcomers worry about being rejected and tend to make minor modifications rather than writing comprehensively.


Interesting point：


Studies show that ordinary readers tend to give up reading when encountering entries that are either too long or too professional. Long entries are harder to update, and errors or outdated information may be ignored.  Mobile users need to scroll frequently, and critical information may be overwhelmed.


Discussion：


I think the solution to this problem is to allow users to choose between a "basic" and "professional" view to meet different needs. Do you have any other methods?

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