[WikiEN-l] Is Wikipedia dying?

[Surreptitiousness]

Steve Bennett wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 7, 2009 at 1:22 AM, Surreptitiousness
> <surreptitious.wikipedian at googlemail.com> wrote:
>   
>> I really don't get this at all.  If everyone took that approach, there
>> would be no Wikipedia.
>>     
>
> Almost everyone *does* take this approach. Do you have any idea what
> fraction of the world's population contributes to Wikipedia? It's
> negligeable. Don't be offended that some internet blowhard is not
> helping our mission. Neither is your mother.
>   
You have my mother mistaken for someone else's then. I'm not offended in 
any way that someone has chosen to criticise.  What I am astounded at is 
the abject negativity which greets the idea that people should have a go 
at fixing problems.  We're supposed to be the people trying to get 
others to engage with the project.  If even we, when discussing the 
idea, are abjectly negative, don't you think that's discouraging rather 
than encouraging?  Don't you think that's going to convey entirely the 
wrong idea? Are you challenging the meme or reinforcing it?  Are you 
part of the problem or part of the solution? As to the idea that I have 
no idea what fraction of the world's population contributes to 
Wikipedia, can I point you to the portions of my message you snipped, 
since given that statement it is entirely possible you may not have read 
them. As I said, most of the people I know can't get their head around 
editing Wikipedia. My response is gentle encouragement or comedic 
rebuttal.  "Ah, go on, you know you want to" or "I bet you do edit it 
really though".  Some you win, some you lose. Some people eventually 
come back to you with some story or another, but you can show them where 
they go wong, and what matters and what doesn't.  The idea from where I 
sit is empowerment.