Stephen Gilbert wrote:
This isn't the same situation as, say,
"working" on an
article with Helga Jonat. Fred (Hi Fred! Are you tuned
in to this thread?) is a good contributor to the
project, and isn't out to push a specific agenda all
through Wikipedia. On the other side of the coin,
you're obviously not intending to dismiss Fred as
unimportant, nor are you trying to insult his
intelligence.
I agree with this. :-)
We're starting to see the growth of Wikipedia
straining the sense of community. Take a look at the
Wiki Life Cycle
(
http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?WikiLifeCycle).
It's a remarkably accurate guide to the rise and fall
of wiki communities. We are entering stage 17:
"Decline Of Civility -- there are more strangers than
friends, and assum[ing] good faith fails as reputation
is fleeting." As more and more Wikipedians contribute,
we have to be careful; it's getting easier to get into
heated arguments, and these fights will de-stabilize a
project that bases itself on openness.
Thanks for the link. I knew I couldn't have been the first person to think about the
growth of online communities.
kq