Sigh.
What I'm getting at is that I still use the Wikipedia, but I don't contribute anymore. Recently, I've come across a wonderful new term that helps express one of my two frustrations with the site: Wikigroaning. Coined by Something Awful in a June 5 article, the word refers to the act of exposing the Wikipedia's lameness by contrasting one article with a similarly themed article that is longer despite being completely more frivolous. For example, Something Awful offers this as the first comparison:
Knight vs. Jedi Knight
I don't care how many Star Wars fans exist, it's laughable that this social construction that figured so importantly into hundreds of years of western history would merit less of an explanation than a fictional class of warriors from a movie series that has existed only since 1977. I'm not surprised that the Jedi Knight page is longer. I just think it sucks.
While the original article on Wikigroaning and its sequel, Wikigroaning II: The New Batch, cite a great many showdowns in the article length-versus-inherent frivolity battle, I decided to try a few of my own.
Peach vs. Princess Peach
Kodiak Bear vs. Care Bear
Bebop vs. Cowboy Bebop
Masquerade ball vs. Cosplay
Louis Vuitton vs. Louis Braille
Peanut vs. Peanuts
Raven vs. Minor Ravenclaws
Slavery in Colonial America vs. BSDM
Winslow Homer vs. Homer Simpson
Tears vs. Cry (Faith Hill album)
Maravilla vs. Captain Marvel
Gemstone vs. Jem (TV series)
Lindsey Buckingham vs. Lindsay Lohan
Buellton vs. McDonaldland
Joycelyn Elders vs. Julius Hibbert
Half-dollar (United States coin) vs. Fifty cents vs. 50 Cent
Surfing vs. Surfin' USA vs. Silver Surfer
Phoenix (mythology) vs. Phoenix (comics) vs. Fenix*TX
Ranch vs. Ranch dressing vs. Rancho Santa Fe
Poison Ivy vs. Poison Ivy (comics) vs. Poison Ivy (1959 song) vs. Poison Ivy (film)
Whooping Crane vs. Stephen Crane vs Ichabod Crane vs. Maris Crane
And now let's all let out a collective guttural noise expressing our frustration with the Wikipedia. And, following that, let's all go there and see what other articles jump out at us as being excessively long.
Kodiak Bear vs. Care Bear
Bebop vs. Cowboy Bebop
Masquerade ball vs. Cosplay
Louis Vuitton vs. Louis Braille
Peanut vs. Peanuts
Raven vs. Minor Ravenclaws
Slavery in Colonial America vs. BSDM
Winslow Homer vs. Homer Simpson
Tears vs. Cry (Faith Hill album)
Maravilla vs. Captain Marvel
Gemstone vs. Jem (TV series)
Lindsey Buckingham vs. Lindsay Lohan
Buellton vs. McDonaldland
Joycelyn Elders vs. Julius Hibbert
Half-dollar (United States coin) vs. Fifty cents vs. 50 Cent
Surfing vs. Surfin' USA vs. Silver Surfer
Phoenix (mythology) vs. Phoenix (comics) vs. Fenix*TX
Ranch vs. Ranch dressing vs. Rancho Santa Fe
Poison Ivy vs. Poison Ivy (comics) vs. Poison Ivy (1959 song) vs. Poison Ivy (film)
Whooping Crane vs. Stephen Crane vs Ichabod Crane vs. Maris Crane
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