[WikiEN-l] Civility poll results

[Marc Riddell]

> 2009/8/11 Marc Riddell <michaeldavid86 at comcast.net>:
> 
>> Is anyone really surprised at this? On this very List people are constantly
>> bragging about how wonderful Wikipedia is; focusing exclusively on how big
>> it is. Yet completely ignoring how screwed up the culture is. It's like a
> 
on 8/11/09 6:50 PM, Andrew Gray at andrew.gray at dunelm.org.uk wrote:

> I'm really not seeing the same level of unalloyed positivity you are.
> 
> Speaking for myself, I've said on several occasions over the past two
> or three years, both here and elsewhere, that our culture has
> significant systemic problems. When discussing this, I never felt I
> was alone in this opinion; it's widely held amongst a sizeable
> fraction of my "contemporaries", people who've been involved for a few
> years and had the opportunity to see the cultural shifts.
> 
> This cultural dysfunctionality is a real problem; it has been a real
> problem as long as I can remember; and it's getting worse.
> 
> As you say, the people who deny it exists aren't helping anyone deal
> with it. But, conversely, assuming that no-one beyond a few lone
> voices know or care about it doesn't help us deal with it either.

I hear you, Andrew. But the "few lone voices" are the only ones I ever hear;
the others are the ones with the megaphones handed to them by the executive
suite. Present a positive picture; that's how donations are raised. Cynical,
perhaps. But, sadly, true.

Marc