-----Original Message-----
From: Anthony <wikimail(a)inbox.org>
To: wjhonson(a)aol.com; wikien-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Sent: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 8:11 pm
Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] Citizendium
Neither did my application to volunteer for the fire department. That
doesn't mean I used the space to bitch, or that I would have been
surprised had I used the space to bitch and still been approved.>>
And here's the difference.
When you apply for a job, you write something on paper, a human reads
it. We all know this, we've all done it.
When you sign up for a website, *in general* no human ever needs to
read what you put down. A computer sends you an email to click to
verify yourself or whatever. The *typical* way to sign up for sites is
completely automatic, you can do it at three in the morning.
There isn't anything on Citizendium's sign up page to make you think
that they are going to act different from that. In fact it isn't
really clear that once you get a login id you can even start editing.
"Fill the out and we'll get back to you" is of course what you see all
the time when you sign up for anything online. A typical person is not
going to assume that they mean that literally, after dozens of other
sites sign you up with automated scripts.
When I signed up for a YouTube account I wrote something pretty nasty
in my "bio", but it's an automated verification procedure, just like=2
0
you find all over the net, so it made no difference.
Since Citizendium is acting in a non-normal fashion compared to other
sites, they should make sure that it is double-clear exactly what is
happening. In my opinion, they are failing to do that. And my case
highlights it. You can say, "Well you're just an ass and an idiot" but
that doesn't serve any point. If it annoys me, then it probably annoys
at least one other person (maybe on Mars or something). And it gains
Citizendium no advantage for them to be obtuse.
Will Johnson