[WikiEN-l] Why I don't contribute to Wikipedia anymore

[Durova]

>
> >> "It's a common story in the human species. First, we want to achieve a
> >> goal. Second, we discover that we are all different[2] and that we
> >> need some rules to organize our work. Third, we make the rules really
> >> complicated to fit every corner case. Fourth, we completely forget the
> >> goal of those rules and we apply them blindly for the sake of it.
> >> Fifth, we punish or kill those who don't follow the rules as strictly
> >> as we do."
> >
> > To be perfectly honest, I've not really seen that happen; although
> > people will often get their work reverted for not following rules. I
> > cannot think of a single example of people getting banned for not
> > following rules (other than copyvios and behavioral rules).
>
>
Perhaps not banned, but driven away from frustration.  To select just one
from a myriad of examples, take the alt text cult at en.wiki's featured
article process.

The basic idea of alt text is sensible: vision impaired people deserve a
text substitute for images they cannot see.  Surely Wikipedia's best
articles would provide that.

So alt text became mandatory at featured article candidates.  All images
needed alt text, standards developed for alt text, alt text needed to be
rewritten several times to meet the exacting standards.

Meanwhile, reviewers remained remarkably lax about the images themselves and
resisted commonplace suggestions such as the idea that maps ought to be
legible.  The last time I checked several en:wiki featured articles I found
multiple instances of misattributed public domain claims that ought to have
been moved off Commons and reuploaded locally at en:wiki with nonfree use
rationales.

Correct license and legibility are minimum expectations.  The overall
standard for media content is so low that the article about Richard Nixon's
"Checkers" speech reached featured status without any media component to see
or hear that speech, which is public domain and readily available from
several sources.

Yet text developed a cult status out of proportion to its actual importance.
 The problem is one of site culture where pointing out these imbalances
risks a vindictive response from well connected people.