[WikiEN-l] [Barry.Meatyard at warwick.ac.uk: Entry in Wikipedia]

Tue Sep 21 23:55:50 UTC 2004

...plus I reckon we should think about making it more bleedin obvious  
that everyone can edit any article. I know, I know. Anyone who'd  
actually ''read'' the welcome blurb on the WP home page should not be  
able to miss that bit. Yet most people ''are'' currently missing that  
bit -- because ''it just isn't what people expect''. Then they end up  
finding out about that little "secret" much, much further down the line  
-- and IMHO that's precisely why some people have so strong reactions  
about our unlimited editability:
It's like "OMG -- I never knew", followed by, "I feel cheated/stupid  
not to have realized", followed by: "This can't be right."
If we were able to figure out a way to make it yet more obvious -- MUCH  
more obvious -- that anyone can edit, then we might be able to avoid  
people getting that "unlimited editability shock".

Flip thought: Maybe though, that obscurity helps protect our content as  
well. Because it requiring actual brain activity to figure out that you  
can post might also keep alotta morons and trolls at bay.

-- ropers [[en:User:Ropers]]
     www.ropersonline.com

On 22 Sep 2004, at 01:39, Jens Ropers wrote:

> Maybe we should just send these guys this link [  
> http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml? 
> title=National_Academy_for_Gifted_and_Talented_Youth&action=edit ] and  
> tell them to work away.
>
> Wouldn't that be a near-perfect solution?
> What do people think?
>
> -- ropers [[en:User:Ropers]]
>     www.ropersonline.com
>
> On 21 Sep 2004, at 21:20, Jimmy (Jimbo) Wales wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> ----- Forwarded message from Barry Meatyard  
>> <Barry.Meatyard at warwick.ac.uk> -----
>>
>> From: "Barry Meatyard" <Barry.Meatyard at warwick.ac.uk>
>> Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 12:04:35 +0100
>> To: <jwales at bomis.com>
>> Subject: Entry in Wikipedia
>>
>> Dear Mr Wales,
>>
>> Our attention has recently been drawn to an entry for the National  
>> Academy on 'Wikipedia'.
>>
>> The National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth is an English  
>> government agency and part of the national education system.
>>
>> We are aware that the entry was initiated by a 16 year old Academy  
>> student with a less than complete knowledge of the Academy's remit.  
>> Subsequently a number of edits have been made by even younger  
>> students and we accept that some of these are getting the entry  
>> closer to reality. However we would be interested to know the level  
>> of editorial control beyond these edits. For example who removed the  
>> adverse comment (merely a student's perception) dated 30 Aug? Is this  
>> done by Wikipedia staff - and if so how are 1 million plus articles  
>> policed?
>>
>> We would be happy to rewrite the entry to enable it to reflect more  
>> accurately the remit and contractual obligations of the Academy,  
>> which of course would be entirely factual as befits an objective  
>> encyclopedia. However we need to be reassured that such objectivity  
>> is not compromised by the facility for those who may have a skewed  
>> perspective to air it in public.
>>
>> Whilst for some entries it may be interesting to see the evolution of  
>> an entry, (as a professional botanist I was fascinated by the  
>> development of some of the plant focused entries), the fact that  
>> potentially damaging and inaccurate comments remain in the 'history'  
>> thread is of concern to us as a publicly funded body. You will  
>> appreciate that we are not convinced that a collegiate approach to  
>> evolving a definition for a government agency of which there may be a  
>> variety of subjective impressions is appropriate.
>>
>> At this stage we are seeking reassurance with respect to the  
>> editorial policy of the site and to request whether inaccurate and  
>> potentially damaging entries can be removed from the history.
>>
>> I look forward to hearing from you.
>>
>> Yours,
>>
>> Barry
>>
>>
>> Dr. Barry Meatyard
>> Director of Student Services
>> National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth
>> University of Warwick
>> Coventry
>> CV4 7AL
>> UK
>> Tel: 44 (0) 24 76 574483
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- End forwarded message -----
>>
>> -- 
>> "La nÃ¨fle est un fruit." - first words of 50,000th article on  
>> fr.wikipedia.org
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>
>