Talk:Blacksmith

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[change] Neutrality

Please list specific complaints, so that they may be addressed. Slinging isolated adjectives (with pejorative intent?) is seldom helpful. 68.37.59.70 04:35, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

The {{NPOV}} tag was placed because someone screwed up the {{you}} template and NPOV got added to every page {YOU} was on. This has been corrected. -- Creol(talk) 05:29, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

[change] Second Person

'You' has been replaced with nouns (the blacksmith / the smith). The initial intent in this section was to present step-by-step how-to information to people who would like to try blacksmithing. 68.37.59.70 04:35, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

The problem there is that Wikipedia is not Howto.com. We are an Encyclopedia, not a how-to manual. It is one thing to tell how it is done, but another to tell how to do it. Telling what a blacksmith does is one thing, teaching people to be a blacksmith is another. -- Creol(talk) 05:29, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

I find the distinction between "how it is done" vs "how you could do it" to be semantics. When did wikipedia start enforcing the "not-a-howto" doctrine? I just discovered it tonight all over the wikipedia. Another way of asking this question might be: when/why did wikipedia decide to be _merely_interesting_ rather than _useful_? I wish i had words to express exactly how far my estimation of wikipedia has plummeted.  :( ---- former wikipedian.