G'day Neil,
Given the history of Wikipedia, Jimbo's been the
most hands-off project
leader in the history of the Internet. Indeed, the community has been
left to decide almost everything for itself; and this has proved, in
almost all cases, to be the right thing to do.
Perhaps some of the current problems, such as the userbox nonsense and
general culture wars, are partly due to this -- without continual
intervention from above, many people may be unaware, or have forgotten,
that the Wikimedia Foundation and its corporate structure even exists
(and, in some cases, may also have forgotten about the whole "Wikipedia
is an encyclopedia" mission thing).
I recall a user --- but not, alas, his name --- who, in the midst of the
userbox thing, suddenly leapt out of his chair with shock and cried out,
"who the heck is this Jimbo person?"
Many noble Wikipedians took on the task of educating this poor fellow,
who, upon enlightenment, was horrified to discover that he had been
working for a tyrannical dictatorship all this time, and immediately
undertook to convince various admins, and Jimbo himself, to pattern the
website with notices to the effect of "WARNING! IF YOU EDIT HERE, YOU
HATE FREEDOM!" Electroshock treatment starts next Tuesday.
Wikipedia has not grown so big that one needs to be hands-off, or
ultra-respectful of policy, or abandon age-old techniques of editing and
interacting. However, it *has* grown so big that some users can be here
for months without even knowing that we're an encyclopaedia, let alone
some of the fine detail. It would be nice if there were any easier way
to educate them.
--
Mark Gallagher
"What? I can't hear you, I've got a banana on my head!"
- Danger Mouse
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 268.2.1/279 - Release Date: 10/03/2006