2009/6/21 Cormac Lawler <cormaggio(a)gmail.com>om>:
I think what's interesting here is asking:
how does Wikipedia harness the
energy of the public (for want of a better word) in a way that can be more
productive, useful (or at least less brain-sporkingly nonsensical) than a
newspaper open comment section does? What is it about this way of working -
this mode of production - that works well? And what is afforded by 'open
commenting' that the wiki model doesn't? (I don't we should overly idealise
the wiki model - I'm sure we've all sporked our brains out over on-wiki
affairs at some stage or another.)
I recall a presentation by Brion Vibber with a slide that said something
like:
* Let any idiot edit your website
* Make sure the good idiots outnumber the bad idiots
Absolutely. The bad idiots can be identified by how much they try to
prove that they are not idiots, or to confine the other idiots.
Ec