Witco on Wikipedia?

I'm new to the Polynesian pop scene, I kept seeing "Witco" and thought I would do a little research to educate myself. I went to Wikipedia, my go-to source of knowledge and they don't have an article on Witco. Seems someone here should be expert enough to write an article for them :)

oh dear.

Well at least there is this. :D

My thoughts on that: The article on Tiki on Wikipedia is a good example of how imperfect it is as a source. While I cannot fault the article in general (I think it's actually quite good and level headed), by its concept of having to be a short and concise definition it has to leave out a lot. And then it can be edited by everyone, like this for example:

"Heyerdahl material:
I have moved the material on Thor Heyerdahl into the Thor Heyerdahl article, as it did not seem to have anything much in common with themed restaurants in the United States. Kahuroa 23:07, 24 April 2006 (UTC)"

I am sorry, but Thor Heyerdahl was as important to Tiki culture as James Michener. Bad move. And arguments like this:

"Tiki Culture outside the US:
The assertion that tiki culture is a phenomenon unique to the U.S. is incorrect. For example, there are numerous tiki bars/restaurants in Spain, and several exotica bands in Germany. And I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg."

Well, Tiki Culture is absolutely unique to the US, all other incarnations in Europe were inspired by its US precedents, and make up such a small percentage of the whole phenomenon that they would simply confuse the issue if mentioned in such a general definition as Wikipedia. One byline at the end, with links to Butlin's and the Barcelona bars might be OK...

Anyway, I guess I can't complain if I don't get involved and try to clarify things myself....so maybe I should, especially in the case of Witco. It's just I have tons of other writing projects. And why make everything so easily accessible, it's good to leave a little mystery out there. AND maintain a reason why people looking for wisdom about Witco should buy the Book of Witco, also known as TIKI MODERN. :D

Beware of editing anything on Wikipedia that you have great expertise in or even that which you hold near and dear to your heart. You will quite possibly meet your greatest frustration if you attempt to use your knowledge to create something over on Wikipedia!

As bigbrotiki pointed out, and from what I know via a very negative past experience there, anyone who edits on Wikipedia will be challenged almost constantly over the entries you try to make, often by people who have far, far less knowledge on the subject than you do! (But don't you dare try to point that out to them). Also, your work will constantly be edited heavily, and you will often find that people take it upon themselves to remove important facts, or worse, some admin will decide that certain parts "do not meet Wikipedia standards" and will remove them entirely, even if they are cited with a source!

I say that this website is a much better repository of tiki knowledge than any other place on the planet. And there is a search engine here that will allow you to find anything you want to learn about tiki.

Why not create a "History of Witco" thread over here and state in the beginning that you are asking people to donate what they know about the company to the thread? There are heaps of both amateur collectors here, as well as a few major researchers into tiki culture who I'm sure, will eventually make their way to the thread and add what they know. At least you will be able to trust that information and best of all, it will stay here unedited by some layman who really doesn't have a clue about tiki! (Yes, I was left bitter by my Wikipedia experience).

Just my two cents.

Curt

http://www.labyrinth13.com
http://www.myspace.com/labyrinth_13
http://www.myspace.com/lmlibertine

[ Edited by: Sailor Curt 2008-06-02 06:31 ]

I'm actually trying to create a Witco thread on TheTikipedia.com, but there's a remarkable dearth of information out there. I know Tiki Modern is chock full of information, but I don't have a copy and neither does my library. If anyone would care to share what they know, either here or on Tikipedia, I'm sure it would be appreciated by many.

http://www.thetikipedia.com/doku/doku.php?id=culture:witco

Go straight to ones who know. Contact Ken and Heather Pleasant . http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=13682&forum=7&hilite=kiegs

Thanks, I'll give them a shout.