《那些古怪又讓人憂心的問題》第119期:紙質版維基百科(2)
We could try to define a way to measure the “word count” of the average edit, but that's hard bordering on impossible. Fortunately, we don't need to-we can just estimate that each change is going to require us to reprint a page somewhere. Many edits will actually change multiple pages-but many other edits are reverts, which would let us put back pages we've already printed.1 One page per edit seems like a reasonable middle ground.
For a mix of photos, tables, and text typical of Wikipedia, a good inkjet printer might put out 15 pages per minute. That means you'd need only about six printers running at any given time to keep pace with the edits.
維基百科頁面上一般是圖文表格混雜，對於這樣的內容，一臺不錯的噴墨打印機每分鐘能夠打印15頁。也就是說只需要6臺打印機就能在任何時刻跟上電子版的更新速度。The paper would stack up quickly. Using Rob Matthews' book as a starting point, I did my own back-of-the-envelope estimate for the size of the current English Wikipedia. Based on the average length of featured articles vs. all articles, I came up with an estimate of 300 cubic meters for a printout of the whole thing in plain text form.
打印出來的紙張很快就會堆積起來。以羅布•馬修斯打印出來的書作爲參考，我自己又大致估算了一下現有的英文版維基百科的規模，根據“特色文章”的平均長度和所有文章的比值，我估計整個英文維基百科打印出來要有300立方米。
By comparison, if you were trying to keep up with the edits, you'd print out 300 cubic meters every month.
而如果你想趕上目前的更新編輯速度，你每個月都要打印300立方米的紙。$500,000 per month
每月花費50萬美元Six printers isn't that many, but they'd be running all the time. And that gets expensive.
6臺打印機並不多，但鑑於它們是在不間斷地打印，成本一下子就上去了。The electricity to run them would be cheap-a few dollars a day.
每天的電費倒是不貴——也就幾美元吧。The paper would be about 1 cent per sheet, which means you'll be spending about a thousand dollars a day on paper. You'd need to hire people to manage the printers 24/7, but that would actually cost less than the paper.
紙張差不多每張1美分，這麼說來一天要花掉約1000美元。你要僱人24小時管理這些打印機，不過僱人的成本還沒紙張的花費高呢。Even the printers themselves wouldn't be too expensive, despite the terrifyingly fast replacement cycle.
即使是打印機本身也不貴，除了嚇人的更新週期。But the ink cartridges would be a nightmare.
但墨盒的花費將會成爲你的噩夢。Ink
墨水A study by QualityLogic found that for a typical inkjet printer, the real-life cost of ink ran from 5 cents per page for black-and-white to around 30 cents per page for photos. That means you'd be spending four to five figures per day on ink cartridges.
QualityLogic2進行的一項研究指出，一個普通的噴墨打印機的實際墨水成本是從黑白的每張5美分到彩色的每張約30美分。這意味着你每天花掉的墨水錢要達到4～5位數。You definitely want to invest in a laser printer. Otherwise, in just a month or two, this project could end up costing you half a million dollars:
你肯定會想買一個激光打印機。否則不出一兩個月，這個項目就會耗費你50萬美元。But that's not even the worst part.
但這還不是最糟糕的呢。On January 18, 2012, Wikipedia blacked out all its pages to protest proposed Internet-freedom-limiting laws. If, someday, Wikipedia decides to go dark again, and you want to join the protest . . .
2012年1月18日，維基百科塗黑了所有的頁面以抗議限制互聯網自由的法案。如果有一天維基百科再次決定進行黑屏活動，然後你又想參與這一提議……. . . you'll have to get a crate of markers and color every page solid black yourself.
……你得買一大捆記號筆，然後把每張紙全部塗黑，而這全部都將由你一個人完成。I would definitely stick to digital.
我還是用回我的電子版吧。1 The filing system that would be required for this would be mind-bending. I'm fighting the urge to start trying to design it.
1． 這麼做所需要的歸檔系統會讓人腦袋炸掉。我正在拼命壓抑衝動，不讓自己着手設計一套這種系統。
