[WikiEN-l] Scott McCloud on Wikipedia

[Matthew Brown]

On 2/25/07, Michael Snow <wikipedia at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Philip Sandifer wrote:
> > If we do not assume that our userbase is primarily comprised of
> > reasonably competent people who will follow the principles described
> > we are screwed.
>
> I find these two statements to be in considerable tension with each
> other. The latter is not something I'm willing to assume, although it is
> certainly something we should strive toward. In fact, most of the
> community's social problems arise because people are too "clueless" or
> "crazy" to recognize the limits of their competence. We need to figure
> out how we can better push for more competent contributors.

I don't see that this is necessarily a tension; a reasonably large
proportion of our contributors are competent, well-meaning people
trying hard to do the right thing.

Unfortunately, one obnoxious person outshines three hundred good ones.

-Matt