165:. It mentions that the word comes from Greek meioun. That is trivial and superfluous information in an article about genetics, and yet it is the kind of information that has been in encyclopaedias since Blarf, the palaeolithic inventor, documented how he made fire for the first time in a speech to the rest of his tribe.
237:
The trivia-box stops making any sense when applied by computers. If you, as a human, had applied it to an article, I might have considered as useful information. Now, I know it is added by a computer, and I can therefore safely ignore it. Trivia is not wrong. Trivia is not bad. Trivia has always been
177:
I was not even aware of the discussion about trivia in
Knowledge (XXG) before an automatic robot started updating every single Knowledge (XXG) Article with a Trivia section with a tag stating that there was "trivia" in the article which should be removed or integrated in the main part of the article.
50:
In some cases it is more a matter of a bad header than bad content. The section could often as well be labelled "other facts" or "background facts" or "further information". "Trivia" is hardly ever a good description of what the section contains, but it is sometimes the best title available.
138:
Of course paper encyclopaedias often contain pieces of information which we should integrate in
Knowledge (XXG). However, claiming that those of Knowledge (XXG)'s articles that are good have much to learn in layout, style or content disposition from those paper dinosaurs, is very strange.
26:
One problem at
Knowledge (XXG) right now (October 2007) is deletitis, a number of people who "clean up" articles and delete sections for the single reason that they do not understand them, even though they think they do. This page gives some thoughts to one aspect of it - the removal of
130:
I have used other paper encyclopaedias in
English, Russian, German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, French and Italian. They have all been depressing experiences. Some of them have been reasonably easy to browse, and you eagerly go from article to article, but then the articles are usually
81:
For the unnecessary information argument, it can hardly be the base of a policy, as it is up to each of us to judge what we consider unnecessary. It has to be handled at article level. It is kind of obvious that information that really is unnecessary should be removed.
100:
They take more place than dense text, so they are rare in paper encyclopedias, which need to cram as much relevant information as possible into an as light weight of paper as possible. However, Knowledge (XXG) has access to an infinite amount of white space.
168:
There is often, but not always, a problem with the quality of the Trivia sections. However, you do not solve that by integrating the information where it does not belong. And to solve it by removing the section is like using a guillotine to cure headache.
126:
There were terms that were used in different senses in different articles. There were several pages with irrelevant ramblings about someone they considered an "important" person, while other slightly less important persons got no information at all.
118:
As a child I silently adored the beautiful leather bindings of
Encyclopaedia Britannica, but as soon as I tried reading its articles, I found that they often contained information that was impossible to verify, that was likely to be wrong, plenty of
134:
I have the deepest respect for the people who wrote and published those paper encyclopaedias. At the time they were gargantuan works. However, the limitation of paper as a medium made the result miserable, compared to what we can achieve today.
42:
Occasionally people use Trivia sections as garbage containers and throw ill researched and irrelevant facts into it. Obviously that is not good. Trivia has to be as verifiable and notable as any other part of the article. And it has to be
229:
would not have liked it. Once we allow a robot to tell humans how to use their intelligence, we are approaching a state, where humans no longer use their intelligence, where we become the slaves of the
97:
Bullet points are often a very efficient way to structure data so it is quick and easy to get an overview of the content. Sometimes they are appropriate. Sometimes they are not.
222:
The text in the box was not finalized when the robot went out there. There was no consensus for the text. So thousands of articles were updated with text no one had approved.
234:
The main problem was that the stupid (literally) robot tried to apply a "policy", which was adopted by very narrow margin, to articles it did not understand.
154:, I do not want the main text cluttered with names of famous people who have been poisoned by strychnine. I want the chemical description. I also want a
54:
When some people see the confusing and bad results of that kind of behaviour, they tend to over-generalise and think that all "Trivia" is bad.
86:
44:
212:
In some cases, people have misinterpreted the intention, and removed useful information or integrated it where it makes no sense.
147:
The good thing with Trivia sections is that facts that are not directly linked to the main topic can be separated out.
199:
28:
62:
There are several arguments usually put forward against "Trivia". They are usually variants of one of the following:
251:
was first used in
English in the 15th century to refer to the three liberal arts Grammar, Rhetoric, and Dialectic. .
123:, impossible to browse and in general a discouraging experience to anyone who wanted to actually learn anything.
238:
with us, and it will always be there, regardless of how many ransacking robots are sent out there to stop it.
209:
The box was distracting from the content of the article. It was information overload. It degraded readability.
226:
39:
A "Trivia" section in
Knowledge (XXG) tends to be a section of material that does not fit the main text.
158:
of famous people who have been poisoned. If that list is labelled "Trivia" or not, does not matter.
192:
104:
It would be ridiculous to say that all Trivia bullets are inappropriate. Some are. Some are not.
120:
267:
89:, but one cannot claim that all information in all Trivia sections is unnecessary.
17:
151:
112:
Has anyone using the encyclopaedic argument ever used a paper encyclopaedia?
162:
225:
It is a bad precedent to let a robot tell humans what to do.
35:
What is the perceived problem with a Trivia section?
58:What is the alleged problem with a Trivia section?
268:http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/t/t0372200.html
72:"I want Knowledge (XXG) to be encyclopaedic."
8:
85:We can have general guidelines for what is
143:What is the advantage of a Trivia section?
202:into the body of the article or removed.
186:The robot added a box looking like this:
115:I absolutely hate paper encyclopaedias.
150:If I read an article about the chemical
66:"I do not like unnecessary information."
260:
7:
198:Content in this section should be
24:
69:"I do not like bullet points."
1:
286:
191:This article contains a
161:Look at an article like
131:disappointingly short.
77:Unnecessary Information
205:
277:
270:
265:
204:
47:to the subject.
285:
284:
280:
279:
278:
276:
275:
274:
273:
266:
262:
258:
244:
219:
206:
197:
184:
175:
145:
110:
108:"Encyclopaedic"
95:
79:
60:
37:
22:
21:
20:
12:
11:
5:
283:
281:
272:
271:
259:
257:
254:
253:
252:
243:
240:
232:
231:
223:
218:
215:
214:
213:
210:
188:
183:
180:
174:
171:
144:
141:
109:
106:
94:
91:
78:
75:
74:
73:
70:
67:
59:
56:
36:
33:
23:
15:
14:
13:
10:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
282:
269:
264:
261:
255:
250:
246:
245:
241:
239:
235:
228:
224:
221:
220:
216:
211:
208:
207:
203:
201:
196:
194:
187:
181:
179:
172:
170:
166:
164:
159:
157:
153:
148:
142:
140:
136:
132:
128:
124:
122:
116:
113:
107:
105:
102:
98:
93:Bullet Points
92:
90:
88:
83:
76:
71:
68:
65:
64:
63:
57:
55:
52:
48:
46:
40:
34:
32:
30:
19:
263:
248:
236:
233:
190:
189:
185:
176:
167:
160:
155:
149:
146:
137:
133:
129:
125:
117:
114:
111:
103:
99:
96:
84:
80:
61:
53:
49:
41:
38:
31:" sections.
25:
217:Robot Edits
18:User:Mlewan
256:References
200:integrated
152:Strychnine
247:The word
173:The robot
195:section.
87:relevant
45:relevant
249:trivial
230:robots.
182:The Box
163:Meiosis
242:Trivia
227:Asimov
193:trivia
29:Trivia
16:<
156:list
121:POV
27:"
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.