[WikiEN-l] Exit Interview -- Jon Awbrey

Sun Jun 18 04:04:06 UTC 2006

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first post.

after six months in WP I am totally fed up.

it is no longer worth the headache trying to
write quality articles or to improve articles
in this ennvironment.

but i would like to post some of my observations
in hopes that it might help out somehow, someday.

WP is a meeting ground for several types of people.
the main types i've observed fall under these heads:

1.  accurate reporters (AR's).
2.  responsible scholars (RS's).
3.  infantile vandals (IV's).
4.  expert disrupters (ED's)

in the present state of WP, the rules in practice and the prevailing attitudes of admins
are all skewed in favor of IV's and ED's, while the AR's and RS's don't stand a chance.

by "rules in practice" i mean the way that policies and guidelines actually get enforced.
the sad thing is that the "rules in principle" state all the right ideas, but people who
are born and bred to check facts don't have a chance against puppet mobs of pseudo-newbies,
who seem bent on nothing short of making the world safe for their current state of ignorance.
"assuming good faith" and "not biting newcomers" are so much easier for admins to parrot
that it has rendered them the most naive dupes of expert disrupters who have learned how
it easy it is to exploit their naivete.  in short, WP is like email before virus protection.

this is one of the biggest reasons that WP's reputation in responsible communities
has gone from "not especially reliable source" (NERS) to "dump of popular errors" (DOPE).
it is my impression from my acquaintances that more and more responsible scholars who buy
into the ideals of WP in the beginning quickly find themselves disamyed by the realities,
and just go way quietly after a short while of seeing their efforts go to waste here.

i really do hope that something that lives up to the stated ideals and policies of WP
does come into existence someday, so i will try to put aside my present discouragement
and focus on the kinds of experiences that can be converted into constructive critique.

to be continued ...

jon awbrey

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inquiry e-lab: http://stderr.org/pipermail/inquiry/
wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/user:Jon_Awbrey
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