Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Point Richmond has no entry in Wikipedia. The city of Richmond has one, as do Point Pinole, the Bay Trail, Rosie the Riveter, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, and pit bulls.

Wikipedia is the ever-more-popular "open source" online encyclopedia. It's read around the world, and many articles come in English, Italian, Chinese, Dutch, and other languages, even Esperanto.

Anyone can create an entry, and anyone can edit. Quality is maintained by masses, the theory goes. The community of writers and editors becomes a kind of sail, keel and rudder: propelling, moderating, and guiding.

It sounds an awful lot like democracy, doesn't it? We'll see if over the long run it's taken over by extremists. But for now, I love it. It's free, and it seems to contain far more variety and depth--with more freedom--than other reference media.

Take a look for yourself. Look up Richmond . Look up business improvement district (and download some of the linked documents).

Here's a proposition: I'll work on an entry for the Point, and if you want to join me, just post a comment here. If you're working on one already, that's fine too, but please let me know.