[Foundation-l] Message to community about community decline

Tue Mar 29 06:38:17 UTC 2011

On Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 2:26 AM, MZMcBride <z at mzmcbride.com> wrote:

> Ryan Kaldari wrote:
> > On 3/28/11 5:20 PM, MZMcBride wrote:
> >> There's a theory that doing something like editing a free online
> >> encyclopedia is a niche activity, with a finite amount of people who
> will
> >> ever be willing to participate. If we accept this theory, it makes the
> very
> >> strong focus on increased participation look rather silly.
> >
> > So we should just be satisfied with our Pokemon articles and leave it at
> > that?
> >
> > I for one would like to one day see a Wikipedia that isn't obviously
> > written by people like us, i.e. white male American geeks. Maybe it
> > would include better articles on children's literature, cooking,
> > hip-hop, knitting, sharia law, wine, and African dance. Maybe it would
> > have more featured articles on books than video games. Maybe it's
> > article on sexism would be about more than just the Men's Rights
> > Movement. Maybe it would include statistics from places like Brazil and
> > Mozambique instead of just the United States and Texas.
> >
> > Now that I think about it, I believe it would actually be a pretty
> > awesome website. Too bad we'll never let that happen.
>
> I wonder, has any other part of the Internet followed this seemingly
> mythical trend that the Wikimedia Foundation is putting forward, where
> increased participation magically leads to better content?
>
> When I look around to other parts of the Internet with high levels of
> participation and very low barriers to entry, I don't hear much signal in
> the noise. For examples, look at the content of YouTube comments, Facebook
> Wall posts and comments, tweets, etc. Increased participation might build a
> bigger "movement," but a niche activity is still a niche activity, no
> matter
> how many strategic plans, consultants, and buzzwords are thrown at it.
>
> MZMcBride
>
>
>
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I absolutely agree with MZMcBride.

Wikimedia content is build by millions of edits, uploads, and other
contributions by millions of people around the world.  To become a truly
established user, however, is entirely different.  It takes a certain
personality to participate an remain a long-term contributor.  There is no
amount of software upgrades/extensions/bugs/gadgets or
policies/discussions/projects/surveys/mailing lists that will change that.
 Our content will always be built upon those with the goal in mind, always
insurmountable, of any Wikimedia project.

-- 
~Keegan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Keegan