[WikiEN-l] Eschatology and Wikipedia

[Joseph Reagle]

On Tuesday, December 21, 2010, Tony Sidaway wrote:
> Reading the references Joseph Reagle's book I encountered this:
> http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2006/12/wikipedia_will_1.htm

Yes, I've been thinking that it would be neat to have an online debate or something over this, as I write in the conclusion of the book:

> Wikipedia's status as an encyclopedia was debated from the start, even by its founders, and continues to be thought suspect by critics, particularly when a new scandal erupts as they seem to do every so often. This then prompts much discussion. In fact, the community has discussed every conceivable aspect of its identity and work. As I noted at the beginning of this book, this conversation is frequently exasperating and often humorous, but we now know it is also rather pragmatic and governed by good faith norms. Indeed, Wikipedia is an exemplar of the reflective character of open content communities. And just when arguments that Wikipedia would never amount to anything ceased, new arguments about its imminent death took their place.  Based on research showing that Wikipedia contribution is slowing, journalist Stephen Foley asks, "is Wikipedia cracking up?" \acite{Foley2009siw} In 2005, law professor Eric Goldman predicted Wikipedia would "fail" in 2010 (i.e., close access or become spam ridden), repeated the prediction in 2006, and in 2009 made the claim at a conference \acite{Goldman2006wwf,Anderson2009dww}. (If you can still edit Wikipedia when you read this book, it is safe to conclude that he was wrong.)