[WikiEN-l] "Gift of knowledge:" having it both ways

Fri Dec 30 16:43:22 UTC 2005

When people complain about inaccuracies in Wikipedia, the stock answers
are that such complaints are invalid, or involve a misunderstanding of
Wikipedia, because:

--It's a work in progress

--It's not an encyclopedia yet

--Every page has a wee little "disclaimers" link that potentially would
display a huge bold all-caps "WIKIPEDIA MAKES NO GUARANTEE OF VALIDITY"
if you clicked on it.

But when we ask for money, do we say:

--"Give the gift of an open wiki-community?"

--"Give the gift of process, not product?"

--"Give the gift of a whipped-up blend of tasty knowledge spiced with a
few foul nuggets of misinformation?"

We do not. We say "give the gift of knowledge."

Small wonder that we're starting to see some hostility from the outside.
We're trying to have it both ways. We set expectations ("give the gift
of knowledge") and then are surprised when people have the expections
we set.