[WikiEN-l] userbox : insanity ?

Wed Jan 11 09:17:53 UTC 2006

Anthony DiPierro wrote:

>On 1/10/06, John Lee <johnleemk at gawab.com> wrote:
>  
>
>>Anthony DiPierro wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>Or [[User:Kelly Martin]].  I count one article edit in the last 500,
>>>though I might have missed a few.
>>>
>>>Deleting userboxes is as productive toward the goal of creating an
>>>encyclopedia as creating them.
>>>
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>These people have assumed duties that aid the process of building an
>>encyclopedia which do not (directly, at least) involve article editing.
>>A new user (and pretty much everyone who isn't on the Board, Medcom,
>>Arbcom, etc.) does not have such responsibilities. The only way they/we
>>can help out will almost certainly involve article editing (stub
>>sorting, AfD/speedy tagging, etc.). Even some niche tasks (like
>>preparing spoken articles or uploading images) involve some article editing.
>>
>>John Lee
>>([[User:Johnleemk]])
>>    
>>
>
>So, it's bad to not make many article edits.  And the response to my
>comment that there are board members and arbcom members who don't make
>many article edits is that it's OK, because they're board members and
>arbcom members?
>
>I'm sorry, but that seems circular to me.  I think there are lots of
>ways to improve Wikipedia which don't involve any article editing, and
>most of them don't involve admin powers either.
>
><snip>
>
>Anthony
>  
>
I don't consider it circular reasoning. These people have gained the
trust of the community to perform certain tasks that ordinary/new
editors may not (at least without getting in hot soup). They are
building the encyclopedia, too. I don't care if they create a billion
userboxes (provided this doesn't overload the servers), as long as they
continue helping out to build the encyclopedia. Article editing is but
one metric for measuring this enyclopedia-building quotient, but it
generally applies to all editors unless they have other duties that do
not involve article editing but do involve encyclopedia-building. And if
you can think of ways to build an encyclopedia without editing or
gaining the trust of the community, please, do share.

John Lee
([[User:Johnleemk]])