[WikiEN-l] What is happening to the community

[Marc Riddell]

on 3/5/08 7:00 PM, SlimVirgin at slimvirgin at gmail.com wrote:

> Erik Möller wrote in another thread:
> 
> "[T]he real substance here is the destructiveness on the margins of
> our own community; that is what we must address. Wikimedia has
> cultivated a tolerance for open hostility. If we see ourselves as a
> community with a shared purpose, let's start acting like one. That
> doesn't mean blindly following the leader - I have had my fair share
> of arguments with Jimmy over the years - but it does mean rejecting
> the destructive, malicious behavior that we have seen in recent days."
> 
> Erik is right. What is happening to the community is the real issue.
> Even when I joined Wikipedia as a relative latecomer in 2004, the
> sense of community and shared purpose was still palpable. People fell
> out, of course, and made mistakes, but AGF wasn't an empty gesture or
> a rule we blindly followed. We assumed good faith because we were all
> here to give of our time, without payment or any benefit other than a
> feeling of satisfaction, to produce something that might help to
> educate and enlighten other people. In exchange, we hoped that others
> would educate and enlighten us. It was the most inspiring idea I'd
> ever come across, that people all over the world could unite to
> benefit each other in that way.
> 
> But suddenly Wikipedia became very popular, and there was more money
> than before, and people started jockeying for position, and now we're
> tearing each other apart.
> 
> Everyone involved in this, no matter how right they feel they are, has
> to somehow muster the strength and courage to put their individual
> interests to one side and focus on the project, because it really is a
> wonderful, unique, awe-inspiring thing we're involved in here.  I
> think we forget this because we see it from the inside. We get jaded.
> 
> The question for good people on all sides is: what can we do now to
> help save and protect this community and its ideals?
> 
> Sarah
> 
Sarah,

I have been asking this same question for over two years now. In fact I
touched on the subject in a post to one of the WP Lists just yesterday, and
the response I got from a very frequent poster was: "Is this going to be
another lecture on how the Project is failing? If so, I'm not interested".
The denial is strong - and deadly.

To take from my "Thought for the Day" on The WikBack:

You cannot teach - they who will not be taught. You cannot help - they who
will not be helped.

Marc