Talk:encyclopedic

Misuse

I think it is important that we keep the focus on comprehensiveness. This is the common meaning of "encyclopedic" which appears in dictionaries. The term is misused on Wikipedia to mean "having to do with an encyclopedia." 71.63.91.68 12:50, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

In particular, it's misused on Wikipedia to mean "worthy of inclusion in an encylcopedia". Thus people say, in effect, "We want every entry in Wikipedia to be encyclopedic (based on some strong standard of notability beyond mere verifiability), so as to put limits on the extent to which Wikipedia is encyclopedic.", which is naturally confusing (even for one who agrees with the content of such a sentence). We should not put Wikipedians' special definition here at all unless it is widely adopted outside Wikimedia (which I pray it never will be, though I despair of stopping Wikipedians from using it thus). —Toby Bartels 17:58, 12 May 2008 (UTC)