• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    We should probably all be downloading the website and printing off the important stuff

    Sort of defeats the fundamental purpose of a collaborative online encyclopedia.

    If I want a massive hard copy of collected human knowledge, I just go to the public library. I don’t need to print my own.

    But if I want to look something up on the fly (much less check down a bunch of citations), a thousand dead trees worth of printer paper isn’t going to deliver the goods.

    • GalacticRobot@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      Its certainly easier to download it and search for it at home than it is to go to the library. They both have their uses, but Kiwix is pretty awesome.

    • ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml
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      14 hours ago

      I don’t agree.

      The fact that it’s a collaborative online encyclopedia is great, and especially because it has so many contributors.

      A collaborative online encyclopedia with a smaller number of contributors makes it less useful, just like a one-time copy of a collaborative online encyclopedia with a larger number of contributors makes it less useful. However, that does not make it entirely useless.

      I have an older archived copy of Wikipedia. I should probably update it some time.

    • Eh-I@lemmy.world
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      18 hours ago

      Did you have an ancestor telling the people trying to save scrolls from burning that removing them ‘defeats the purpose of the library of Alexander’ or were you adopted?

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        16 hours ago

        You’re describing a single centralized warehouse for physical media. You’re neglecting thousands of other information repositories and alternative methodologies for conveying information.

        And as people convert ancient scrolls to modern hard cover books, you’re screaming “nobody reads books! This will never work!”