[Foundation-l] Usability grant

Wed Dec 3 09:11:08 UTC 2008

On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 2:02 AM, Michael Snow <wikipedia at verizon.net> wrote:
[snip]
> improve the MediaWiki software and the experience for new contributors.
> Not that this is a direct result of recent discussions here, plenty of
> people have mentioned the issue before, including Delphine as Ting
[snip]

Sadly most of the discussions on these lists run on without mention of
the efforts that have come before, in this case see:
http://en.wikipedia.or/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_wizard

When people discuss enhancements it seems that it is taboo to discuss
the question of what happens when the communities reject these
efforts.

Too often we blame technical issues as limiting factors for usability
when with a little creativity a 90% solution is available without
waiting for inflexible technical solutions which never seem to come.
Unfortunately, interest, project politics, and other social factors
are ready to stand in the way of progress even when there are no
technical roadblocks at all.