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  Donnerstag, 23. August 2007

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?

motz 6283 days AGO
it seems they ran into a problem best known from old media chaps: if the editor in chief doesn't stay up late, topics easily get the "nah, not of my interest and therefore of nobody else"-flag. you may lenghten their attention span with cynism. circle closed.

chris 6282 days AGO
I have hope that the Wikipedians fix it; yet I continue to wonder what the motivation for such trigger-happiness is in a non-space-constrained medium ...

chris 6282 days AGO
btw: coating with cynicism or directing the latter at those chaps?

motz 6281 days AGO
oh, how you like it ... depending on the grade of doggedness you face?

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