for those who like to bash their brains out against small-mindedness [you know who you are], i've got one for you.
over on
classic knowledge destruction has been unfolding over the last couple of weeks.
two of the "residents" who think they "own" that page, got bent when i corrected mistakes about the nature of the insulator materials used in spark plugs. [my wikipedia handle is "industry shill" btw.]
the facts: "modern" plugs have a one-piece insulator of sintered alumina [aluminum oxide], and have been made this way for the better part of a century, depending on manufacturer. and gave cites accordingly.
the wikipedia version: they were under the impression that insulators were made of two pieces, one of alumina, the other of "porcelain" [which is at best imprecise - there are many different porcelains], apparently confused by old style mica plug construction.
at first, they just deleted my changes. but after i'd been around the houses on cites and dug out corroborative artwork, i find one of the best illustrations in the commons was causing them problems:
the initial was labeled in polish, so they took it down. i relabeled in english. it was deleted. i reposted, it got nominated for deletion again, i contested, and a wikipedia admin agreed that since the polish version was in the commons, the derivative was too. so, our "residents" marked the original polish version for deletion, succeeded in getting it taken down, and now are trying to take down the derivative - which happens to be the only clear section diagram showing modern spark plug construction! it's not like there's any discrepancy between it and this photo of a real plug's construction:
this blows my mind. a page like this needs a clear factual diagram of reality. since the original was in the commons, i simply cannot understand why anyone would have a problem with it. unless of course, we're dealing with small minded control freaks who would rather suppress reality than actually learn something.
it's very destructive for public knowledge. i can't imagine why anyone with industry expertise for /any/ field would contribute to wikipedia if people like this just delete their expertise and work the next day. i know i don't have time [and don't want] to "police" this stuff. and to do so would make me as bad as them! wikipedia itself bars "edit wars", so it simply boils down to who is the most persistent and who has the most time on their hands, factual information be damned!
i don't think wikipedia can survive if this kind of imbalance continues. a shameful waste of potential.