Re: How to write about things that were once notable?

On 6 February 2013 15:14, Fred Bauder <[email protected]> wrote:

> However, we do need a mechanism for weeding out information which is no
> longer of interest to readers or editors. Perhaps this could be one
> criteria justifying deletion, or perhaps some other form of archiving. We
> could maintain an archive of deprecated subjects separate from the main
> body of articles. Libraries do this, and call it weeding.

There's a reasonable point in here. We have a quite weak grasp of the
(absolute) concept of "salience" of information relative to a topic,
probably because a relative form - disproportionate coverage of an
aspect - is more eye-catching. We only really want salient information
in an article. and the thesis that salience or its perception begins
to look tenable. At the gossip-column extreme the salience of
information can look very perishable (cf. Pippa Middleton). We don't
really have a concept of salience to match the historians, not that (I
imagine) they have a consensus view, thus making history more
interesting than reference material.

Charles

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