langreiter.com plain, simple: 2007-08-23

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2007-08-23

CREATED BY chris • LAST EDITED BY chris 6304 days AGO

Nicholas Carr: Rise of the wikicrats

As indicated by Aaron Swartz's research (see Who writes Wikipedia?), there seem to be two rather distinct groups of Wikipedia editors: Contributors of original material (often subject-matter experts) and "worker bees"/homogenizers, who mostly make sure that an article fits well into the general framework (fix spelling mistakes, ensure format consistency, add info boxes, place articles in categories &c.; in short: perform quality assurance) and often contribute little if any original information. Both roles are, of course, essential.

Wikipedia as a resource of planet-wide importance stands to lose a lot, though, when, as seems to happen again and again, quality assurance folks question the relevance of articles in fields of knowledge they simply have no clue about; and worse, if little or no research is performed prior to scheduling articles for deletion, under the banner of the innocuous-seeming one-word question: "Relevance?"

Really: Who are you to judge?

As the case of, e.g., Antville suggests, the burden of proof currently lies with people who deem entries relevant; shouldn't it be the other way round?

2007-08-23-lolcrat