4 ms·
It made sense in an age of print. But in the era of Wikipedia it's not really needed anymore. If you want population statistics or whatever, Wikipedia will tell
by crazygringo 9mo ago
It made sense in an age of print. But in the era of Wikipedia it's not really needed anymore. If you want population statistics or whatever, Wikipedia will tell you and link to the country's own official metrics. You don't need the CIA to collate it all for you.
And, as multiple commenters here have noted, it's on the Internet Archive. So let's just cherish it as another print tradition that would inevitably end.
- simonw 9mo agoIt hasn't been a print-first publication in many years - the site was updated weekly. It's also where a lot of the facts on Wikipedia came from. This is a real loss. I trust CIA over official population numbers from a lot of countries. There was a thread on here recently that pointed out a lot of countries haven't conducted an effective census in many years, if at all: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46810027 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46810027
- stopbulying 9mo agoHopefully the next admin will regain an understanding of the value of the World Facebook collection of somewhat-vetted facts and opinions.
- shmeeed 9mo agoPlease no World Facebook
- stopbulying 9mo agoWhat if they call theirs Truthbook Bader Ginsberg? Like RBGPAC
- stopbulying 9mo ago(Truth Social went out of their way to copy the look of Twitter by styling their Mastodon instance with the Soapbox theme.) (Elon Musk was the only contributor to a PAC that claimed to represent a deceased Supreme Court Justice.)
- edsu 9mo agoYes, apart from the loss of the publication as a historical artifact, it is the loss of the continuing process that kept it up to date as a representation of the present (with whatever flaws you always have with such representations).
- jfengel 9mo agoWikipedia isn't a source. Wikipedia gathers data from elsewhere, including the World Factbook. Wikipedia has other sources for most of that information. It comes from organizations like the UN, which the administration detests, and now lacks its own way of gathering that information.
- burnt-resistor 9mo ago> It made sense in an age of print. Reading books is still important. That has nothing to do with the CIA factbook website edition. Archiving copies of internet-published information is important, especially when a regime lies, tries to rewrite history, and destroys knowledge and public resources regularly. > So let's just cherish it as another print tradition that would inevitably end Self-fulfilling prophecy, learned-helplessness doomer fallacy. It only ended because some assholes ended it.
- t-3 9mo agoWikipedia is nowhere near the same level of quality or trustworthiness.
- techblueberry 9mo agoStart paying attention to references next time you look for a piece of factual information about a country.
- crazygringo 9mo ago...I do? A lot of stuff in Wikipedia doesn't have great references, but for the types of stats and facts in the World Factbook, it's generally quite excellent.