Talk:Pony Express
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Rapid Transit
"The Pony Express was the first rapid transit"
This isn't really my area but I don't see what the Pony Express has to do with rapid transit. Cjrother 17:43, 15 Oct 2004 (UTC)
- I've removed that (since no one seemed to mind). Cjrother 19:34, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)
How can you not see how it is related to rapid transit??? That is what the pony express was about, being rapid transit of messages/packages!! Mathmo
- I'm not sure if you are joking or not, but to me, and the nice people at wikipedia, rapid transit relates to the transportation of people. Cjrother 01:02, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)
- Ah, I see. Must be another one of these american usages of words, guess if I'd remembered more carefully my americanisms I'd have realised they had a rather narrow definition of this phrase. Sorry, from the american slant it now makes more sense to remove that phrase for the sake of other americans.
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Bias
I have attempted to remove the more biased statements in this article. I also added two sentences on how the PE has entered American myth, though its skewed treatment in American history classes should be elaborated on. -Acjelen 17:48, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)
- I think you went overboard - an assessment of significance is only "biased" if there is considerable disagreement, and if there is disagreement, then you should be able to cite who disagrees. Also, the "orphans preferred" thing is a recently-disproved myth (somebody actually went through all the contemporary newspapers); it was reported recently in my newspaper, saved it somewhere around here... Stan 23:02, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)
- I had particular problem with the following statements (1) "Yet it was of the greatest importance in binding the East and West together" as the Pony Express operated for such a limited time period and (2) "The Pony Express marked the highest development in overland travel prior ..." as lone riders delivering the mail can hardly match the thousands of men, women, children, and families who crossed the American West prior to and after the Pony Express. -Acjelen 00:36, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)
- I suppose "greatest" and "highest" are undesirable because it's unclear what quality measure we're using that makes them valid superlatives. For "greatest" I would suggest "considerable" and perhaps amplify that it was more important as a suggestion of what was possible than for length of service, and for "highest" we want to say "fastest" but that adjective doesn't quite fit. The pioneers aren't quite comparable because in the perception of many folks back home, they were on a one-way trip and as good as dead. The Pony Express was the "most regular and predictable service using overland travel" - a mouthful that the word "highest" attempts to summarize. Stan 05:35, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)
