On 4/22/07, Matthew Brown morven@gmail.com wrote:
On 4/22/07, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
The problem is that doing lots of OTRS leaves one with a ridiculously distorted view of the content of Wikipedia. Wikipedia is HUGE.
I agree. Just as police officers have a distorted view of society through dealing with its worst elements constantly, OTRS volunteers are constantly subjected to the worst, most problematic articles on Wikipedia. It's easy to start thinking these are representative, rather than outliers.
-Matt
Yes. Statistically, I believe one can both show that quality and consistency of articles is steadily increasing.... and also that as users become more deeply involved in the site, including policing and monitoring growing watchlists, they grow disillusioned with the site, and convinced that community policy-making is falling apart and the site's quality and consistency [often in a specific sub-area] is getting worse.
SJ