[WikiEN-l] The shift of Wikipedia

Fri May 26 19:34:53 UTC 2006

As a recent contributor to Wikipedia, I'd like to give you some feedbacks.
I edited a few pages, some of them about Mathematics or Science (my username is
Lerichard). In a very short time most of my contributions disappeared, removed
by users with privileges, or users that were very active on wikipedia. However
I contributed a few pages about comics that stayed.
Someone claimed we reached the death of Wikipedia. I think that's exagerated and
provocative, but there could be a dangerous shift.
My impression is that many popular articles are not made of the best
contributions, rather they are made by people who are willing to spend a lot of
time on wikipedia, and contribute a lot, editing and removing others
contributions, knowing exactly what are the rules, making the rules and so on.
It makes less room for the ones who are not willing to spend hours each day on
wikipedia, but would be able to contribute a bit sometimes. But when I see my
contributions being removed shortly after, I just do not want to contribute
anymore, just use it.
This is not bad per se, but it makes things indeed slightly less democratic, and
creates a difference between those who are wikipedians, and casual users.
Rather than restricting editing of pages, I would rather restrict the number of
contributions that an individual can do. That would be much more democratic.
Rich