On 4/12/07, David Gerard <dgerard(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On 11/04/07, Oleg Alexandrov
<mathbot(a)hemlock.knams.wikimedia.org> wrote:
That's the whole point I think. If you supply
your email address when
you make your account you're less likely to vandalize. And if you get
blocked you can't start a new account with the same address while the
block is on.
Q. How many email addresses do I have?
A. As many as I like.
This is really the crux of the issue. To end IP editing would:
* not impact complex/serious vandalism, the type that's really
dangerous - someone editing maliciously (as opposed to recklessly) is
not going to be stopped by such a low bar as registering an account,
even with the email requirement;
* probably reduce drive-by vandalism (the simple, obvious to catch
stuff like page blanking), but, and here's the kicker:
* reduce drive-by improvements.
Aaron Swartz analysed a small sample of articles to see how much of
the content in each edit persisted into the current version. He found
that for each article, of the top 10 contributors by content (not
contributors by edits), only around a fifth of them are registered.[1]
Bottom line: registered users make the vast majority of edits (and, as
of 2005, the top 1400 make 73% of them) but it's IP editors (and
small-time registered users) who contribute most of the content.
--
[1]
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/whowriteswikipedia
--
Stephen Bain
stephen.bain(a)gmail.com