[WikiEN-l] Strange fetishes

Fri Mar 4 09:25:27 UTC 2005

Abe Sokolov wrote

> I concede that Wikipedia is no longer the small community it once was, but
> rather an increasingly complex and cumbersome organization comprising
> thousands of user, meaning that attention to procedure is crucial if the
> project is to be manageable. The problem is not the bureaucratization of
> Wikipedia in and of itself but rather how Wikipedia is being
bureaucratized.

Don't see it myself.  I think I could edit WP for a couple of weeks before
meeting any signs of central control or 'bureaucracy'.

> If Wikipedia is serious about its goal of creating an encyclopedia, it
must
> develop a conflict resolution process that bans users who make nonsensical
> edits, not those who are reverting them.

I think WP is serious.  Nonsense postings are pushed to the margins, as far
as I can see (forgive me if I'm not much interested in Larouche issues,
which I think are barely relevant outside the USA).

> Larry Sanger's advice (http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/12/30/142458/25)
> should be taken seriously while the project is still salvageable.

I actually thought Larry had it wrong, basically.  Not that deferring to
those who know what they are talking about is wrong for WP - it is obviously
the right approach for example for me, a generalist, to take in many cases -
but that there was some way deference could be plumbed in to the wiki.

Charles