Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/2010-03-29/In the news

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So if we're so inaccurate and unreliable, how can someone explain that we are now the ONLY modern reference work that has an accurate article on the Rhine River? かんぱい! Scapler (talk) 23:44, 31 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well, we aren't totally inaccurate and unreliable. Airplaneman 00:51, 1 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe at a close enough granularity, the longer value is also correct. Shoreline length versus navigation transit distance? 99.27.201.226 (talk) 03:46, 1 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I first thought of the coastline paradox too, but apparently the length of a river is never measured along its banks, but along its middle line (however defined), where that would not apply.
It is clear that such a length can only be measured (or even defined) approximately, see also List_of_rivers_by_length#Definition_of_length. And Kremer also admitted that his own measurement could be a few kilometers off. But it seems that such inaccuracies cannot amount to 90 km.
Regards, HaeB (talk) 04:04, 1 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]