[WikiEN-l] Wikipedia's provable anti-expertise bias (was How did this happen (comixpedia??))

[Mark Gallagher]

G'day David,
[AfD]
> So. Is Wikipedia's provable anti-expert bias here a good or bad
> thing? If bad, what to do about it? Please discuss.

It depends on the expert.  On the one hand, an unbiased view on AfD is a 
very welcome thing.  Imagine if SPUI were the sole authority on what 
roadcruft we should keep, and what we should delete!  And yet, he's 
undeniably an amateur expert on transportation in the USA --- should his 
opinion count for more than the metric truckload of people who don't 
think an unnoteworthy back street encyclopaedic?

On the other hand, anti-expert bias is inherently a Bad Thing. 
Wikipedia is too populist.  We take experts and say to them "well, I'm 
an ignorant moron from Power Cable, Nebraska, and my views count just as 
much as yours do.  So tell me, if you can, why Lyndon LaRouche isn't our 
Lord and Saviour?"

The question is not whether we should be blanket pro- or anti-expert. 
It's how far to either extreme we should lean.


Cheers,

-- 
Mark Gallagher
"What?  I can't hear you, I've got a banana on my head!"
- Danger Mouse


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