Encyclopedia Britannica to stop printing : Othor Games

» Mon May 14, 2012 2:34 pm

That's true I suppose. Never ran into that myself, as the only books I ever desire to find specific excerpts in are academic works, which generally have excellent indexes. And articles are usually short enough that a bit of skimming through the text will get you what you need fast enough. But scientific journals are usually available in digital form, so it's even less of an issue there. I guess I'm just old fashioned though, I love the look, smell and feel of printed books.

I do too when it comes to my own personal readings, though even then I sometimes find myself looking through books to find a specific quote.

Like I said: thank goodness for Google Books

» Mon May 14, 2012 2:55 pm

It's not like you wouldn't sharpen your mind by sitting down and reading an out of date encyclopedia from printed text. It should probably even be prescribed.

» Mon May 14, 2012 7:21 am

Paper/books is obselete anyway :smile:

Trying to keep one of these up to date is much more effort than it's worth, especially when the likes of wiki are around and do it much easier

Wikipedia's a good starting point as long as you remember it's not guaranteed to be entirely accurate: I've seen enough articles that are guarded by someone hell-bent on ramming their own opinion through any pesky facts getting in the way that I tend to feel a little wary... IMHO it's only one step up from getting one's information from a daily newspaper.

» Mon May 14, 2012 8:23 am

Honestly I'm surprised anybody cares, Its a freekin' encyclopedia, They invented the internet so theres no need to keep a crapload of books which will eventually become out of date anyway

Too bad the internet isn't around in many parts of the globe. Not to mention, what will happen when it goes out? EMP attacks? Nuclear devastation? Technological failure? Going on a camping trip? Ever account for that?

» Mon May 14, 2012 8:37 am

What-the-actual-[censored]...

» Mon May 14, 2012 7:01 pm

While I do like the feeling of a book in my hand, this is just progress in the works. I'm actually kind of surprised they haven't stopped printing newspapers yet. Wouldn't be surprised if schools just started issuing kindles or such with pre-loaded books inside.

» Mon May 14, 2012 4:58 am

While I do like the feeling of a book in my hand, this is just progress in the works. I'm actually kind of surprised they haven't stopped printing newspapers yet. Wouldn't be surprised if schools just started issuing kindles or such with pre-loaded books inside.

Once everything goes electronic, internet prices will jack up and you will have to "subscribe" to websites. The day internet becomes a manufactured necessity because we declared it so, is the day I don't want to live here anymore.

» Mon May 14, 2012 7:47 am

To me, encyclopedia's are time capsules of their era.

I have my grandfathers 16 volume 5th ed. Winkler-Prins encyclopedia, printed 1934... funny as hell! :biggrin:

» Mon May 14, 2012 6:11 am

Rainforest and trees, rejoice!

» Mon May 14, 2012 5:11 am

Rainforest and trees, rejoice!

In steps Ikea.... :nono:

» Mon May 14, 2012 6:48 pm

Wikipedia's a good starting point as long as you remember it's not guaranteed to be entirely accurate: I've seen enough articles that are guarded by someone hell-bent on ramming their own opinion through any pesky facts getting in the way that I tend to feel a little wary... IMHO it's only one step up from getting one's information from a daily newspaper.

Yeah but if it's wrong, and someone knows the right stuff, it can be tweaked again and again until it's correct - The book has too many processes in which it needs to go through just to get 1 release.

» Mon May 14, 2012 12:55 pm

Yeah but if it's wrong, and someone knows the right stuff, it can be tweaked again and again until it's correct - The book has too many processes in which it needs to go through just to get 1 release.

Otherwise known as "edit warring": seen that quite a few times, unfortunately it's not guaranteed to ensure the facts win out, it's the one who knows how to play the game that "wins" in the end...

» Mon May 14, 2012 5:05 pm

Never needed an encyclopedia anyway..

On the subject of the wiki being unreliable(just admit it) some articles are locked atleast because of crap like that.

» Mon May 14, 2012 8:24 am

Otherwise known as "edit warring": seen that quite a few times, unfortunately it's not guaranteed to ensure the facts win out, it's the one who knows how to play the game that "wins" in the end...

On the subject of the wiki being unreliable(just admit it) some articles are locked atleast because of crap like that.

I was actually just going to say do some articles not get locked and todied up because of these "wars" and then audited afterwards so correct information only goes in?

» Mon May 14, 2012 4:32 am

I was actually just going to say do some articles not get locked and todied up because of these "wars" and then audited afterwards so correct information only goes in?

No, it's to ensure that the correct policies are followed, not to guarantee the accuracy of information. It's a bit like quality assurance where it's a guarantee of "correct" procedures, not good quality.

» Mon May 14, 2012 9:22 am

No, it's to ensure that the correct policies are followed, not to guarantee the accuracy of information. It's a bit like quality assurance where it's a guarantee of "correct" procedures, not good quality.

Ahh. Well there's a whole lot of internet to browse so the correct information is out there somewhere if it ain't on the wiki so the books still obselete - until we actually know everything and the internet collapses and is disabled indefinitely

» Mon May 14, 2012 10:58 am

Ahh. Well there's a whole lot of internet to browse so the correct information is out there somewhere if it ain't on the wiki so the books still obselete - until we actually know everything and the internet collapses and is disabled indefinitely

I still like having books, though (well, in general terms); not just the tactile element, but often enough, trying to search for something on teh interwebs just ends up being an exercise in frustration! Perhaps the day the search engines find a way of filtering out all the rubbish and stop force-feeding me links to online shops that don't even deliver to this country...