User:Kelapstick/Kelapstick's Law

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Kelapstick's Law states; The population of a settlement is inversely proportional to the world wide importance of information regularly added to the settlement's Wikipedia article. These additions usually involve details about shopping, entertainment, schools, junior sports teams, and news of local importance. These additions happen mainly on articles of smaller cities and towns where articles may not be fully developed, and typically are not watched by a large number of people. The additions are usually made by people from (either currently or originally) from the city or town in question, and are made as a way to improve the article by adding information, under the assumption that more is better. These addditions may be inappropriate because Wikipedia is not a tourist, shopping, or entertainment guide, nor is it a newspaper.

Definitions

  • Settlement - Any city, town, village, hamlet, or populated and named geographic location.
  • World wide importance - What the man on the Bondi tram would expect to find in a general knowledge encyclopedia (or in the example below we explore what somebody in Cuaró, Uruguay might expect to find while looking for information on Balzac, Alberta).[N 1]
  • Regularly added - What a Wikipedia editor might expect to find when seeing an edit to a settlement page on their watchlist.

Examples

Balzac, Alberta

Balzac, Alberta is 24 kilometres (4,800 rods) from Calgary. Statistics Canada has not released census data, however an estimate has been made by Industry Canada of 450 people.[1] The "Services" section provides the following information to the reader:

  1. There is a general store[N 2] that has a restaurant and filling station.
  2. There is a shopping centre named the CrossIron Mills, although it is not "officially" in Balzac.[N 3]
  3. In 2009 Walmart intended to spend over $100 million to build a distribution center [sic]. It was to be completed in 2010.[N 4]

Considering the following question. Our friend in Cuaró has recently become pen pals with somebody in Balzac. He[N 5] decides he is going to look up information about where his[N 6] pen pal is from. Is it critical for our friend to know:

  1. His pen pal can get gasoline within his community?[N 7]
  2. The name of the shopping mall that is close, but not in the community?[N 8]
  3. A major investment in the community made by Walmart?[N 9]

Thompson, Manitoba

Thompson, Manitoba is a city 830 kilometres (4,100 furlongs) from Winnipeg, the provincial capital. As of 2011 it had a population of about 13,000 people. The local economy is based on nickel mining, and the area serves as a regional hub.[2] As of 2011, the shopping section of the Thomson article stated:

Thompson is a major retail service centre for the Northern Manitoba region. The city has three fully enclosed shopping centres, Westwood Mall, Thompson Plaza and the City Centre Mall. In the 1980s, all three malls were fully rented and attracted well-known chains however, more recently they have had difficulty operating fully rented.[2]

Compare that to the version from November 2008:

Thompson is home to western Canada's first fully enclosed shopping centre, the Thompson Plaza. The surrounding communities also rely on many of the shopping amenities it has to offer. City Centre Mall is the main shopping mall located at 300 Mystery Lake Road. The mall includes Wal-Mart, Bootlegger, The Source by Circuit City, Warehouse One, Safeway and Starbucks to name a few. In 2007, Safeway remodeled their Thompson store into a Safeway Lifestyles style store, with a fresh meat counter and more quick meal choices. Located just outside of the mall is Mark's Work Warehouse and Tim Horton's.[3]

Notwithstanding it is unsourced, the newer section is preferred because:

  1. Does not give store names (because Wikipedia is not a shopping guide), and if a store moves or closes will not require updating from somebody in Thomson.[N 10]
  2. Does not give an address, as per above, Wikipedia is not the Yellow Pages either.
  3. Relative importance, Tim Horton's coming to Thompson was a big deal,[N 11] in Thompson. Our friend in Cuaró probably doesn't care that there is a Tim Horton's "just outside" the City Centre Mall, or that Safeway now provides more "quick meal choices".

Related

Notes

  1. ^ Cuaró and Balzac were selected randomly by typing List of populated into the search window, and finding pages with small populations. No offence is is intended to any Cuaróns or Balzacers.
  2. ^ Aptly named the Balzac General Store
  3. ^ The unofficial status is by virtue of local people refering to it as being in Balzac, and its proximity to the community
  4. ^ There is no indication as to the completion status of the distribution center.
  5. ^ Or she.
  6. ^ Or her
  7. ^ Answer: No.
  8. ^ Answer: Maybe, although given it is only "unofficially" within the city, a three-sentence paragraph is a little much.
  9. ^ Answer: Probably, although it need expansion, updating, and referencing.
  10. ^ I doubt our friend in Cuaró will have read about the closure in his local paper.
  11. ^ Residents and visitors used to bring donuts from Tim Horton's in Winnipeg.

References

  1. ^ Authors, Wikipedia. "Balzac, Alberta Wikipedia article on 11 March 2012". Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  2. ^ a b Authors, Wikipedia. "Thompson, Manitoba Wikipedia article - 11 March 2011". Wikipedia. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  3. ^ Authors, Wikipedia. "Thompson, Manitoba Wikipedia article - 12 November 2008". Wikipedia. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
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