[Foundation-l] "antisocial production"

Sun Jun 28 15:35:11 UTC 2009

> Marc Riddell wrote:
>>> on 6/27/09 6:35 PM, David Moran at fordmadoxfraud at gmail.com wrote:
>>> 
>>>> While not exactly science, having gone to more than one Wikipedia
>>>> picnic to break bread with my fellow contributors ... the
>>>> conclusions seem pretty accurate to me.
>>>> 
>>>> DM
>>> 
>>> And, until that changes, the Project will grow only in size, but not
>>> in depth.
>>> 
>>> Marc Riddell

on 6/27/09 7:27 PM, Phil Nash at pn007a2145 at blueyonder.co.uk wrote:
> 
> I wonder how much of that is due to cultural differences, taking the Pokemon
> vs Medieval Philosophy difference as one example?
> Editors have multifarious interests, and IMO, the worst of them tend to
> discount outside interests, particularly when it comes to "popular culture",
> as irrelevant. I'd suggest that NPOV suggests that within a historical
> perspective, it is not for us now to judge such issues, after all, it's not
> as if we are short of disk space for our articles. I'm reminded of
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Cultures but these days, we have many more
> than two cultures represented in en:wiki, so diversity should not only be
> expected, but encouraged; this, to me, means that editors should
> occasionally step outside their comfort zone and see what is going on
> elsewhere. Perhaps, since I watchlist about 1600 articles of various types,
> I get an overview denied to, or rejected by, others, but then also, perhaps
> I have too much time on my hands. Ho hum.
> 
Phil, I'm not talking about Article v. Article, or Subject Area v. Subject
Area. I am presenting to an overall, cohesive cultural standard that would
clearly define the entire Project.

As it is now, what culture there is is very cult-like in that its members
religiously protect what is, and are very resistant to what could be, i.e.,
change. For the Project to truly grow in depth, and get itself out of the
box it has placed itself in, this resistance to change must be confronted.

The Wikipedia Project has been virtually without competition for its entire
existence. That may very well soon change.

Marc Riddell