[WikiEN-l] "Good authors"

Mon Jun 26 01:11:39 UTC 2006

Wikipedia: The encyclopedia anyone who isn't a douchebag can edit

On 6/25/06, George Chriss <GChriss at psu.edu> wrote:
>
> As much as "love in knowledge" is true, "anyone can edit" distinguishes us
> from other
> knowledge--based projects, such as Encyclopaedia Britannica.  The slogan
> is terribly catchy, and
> we still have readers unaware of the fact that they can edit.
>
> If I had to give Wikimedia projects a new, more accurate slogan, it would
> be "organizing knowledge
> by open editing".  Perhaps the Foundation proper should adopt "for people
> that love sharing
> knowledge"?
>
> -George
> [[User:GChriss]]
>
> <quote who="Erik Moeller">
> > On 6/25/06, Steve Bennett <stevagewp at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> How about "New editors always welcome!" - then, the assumption is that
> >> we will give *anyone* a *chance* (as opposed to implying that we will
> >> let anyone edit, no matter how destructive they are).
> >
> > I agree in principle that the slogan "the free encyclopedia that
> > anyone can edit" is overly simplistic. It reminds me of the famous
> > saying, "I would never want to belong to any club that would have
> > someone like me for a member." It's more of a technical definition
> > than one of principles and goals -- and can easily be confused with
> > the latter.
> >
> > I believe that we need to highlight the mission of providing a great,
> > free encyclopedia, along with the core principle _how_ we want to
> > accomplish it. And the single most important principle I can think of
> > here is not "anyone can edit". It's not even NPOV or any other policy.
> > It's "WikiLove" -- of which our commitment to openness is only an
> > expression. We share a love of knowledge, and we treat everyone who
> > shares the same love with respect and goodwill. (That's the idea, at
> > least.)
> >
> > If I wanted a three word slogan for Wikipedia, it would be something
> > like "Love in Knowledge": emphasizing the core principle of WikiLove
> > as well as the overarching goal to collect the sum of all human
> > knowledge. Come to think of it, "Love in Knowledge" might be a nice
> > slogan for the Wikimedia Foundation. Or is it too kitschy?
> >
> >> We're not elitist at all. The tone of most of our articles is very
> >> folksy and approachable
> >
> > I'm not sure about "folksy," but of course an encyclopedia should be
> > approachable. My idea of the perfect Wikipedia article is one which
> > presupposes very little, and allows me to zoom into any level of
> > detail which I require (following links and references to primary and
> > secondary sources if Wikipedia itself is exhausted). Naturally, by
> > "presupposing little", I don't mean that every concept needs to be
> > explained in every article: that's what links are for.
> >
> > "Elitism of results", as Jimmy put it, doesn't mean to me that we
> > already believe that we've created the best encyclopedia in history.
> > It only means that we believe that we should, and more importantly,
> > that we can. And I think that these beliefs are firmly rooted in
> > Wikipedia's culture.
> >
> > Erik
> > _______________________________________________
> > WikiEN-l mailing list
> > WikiEN-l at Wikipedia.org
> > To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
> > http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
> WikiEN-l mailing list
> WikiEN-l at Wikipedia.org
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit:
> http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
>