On Mon, 13 Sep 2004 19:54:49 +0000, David Gerard fun@thingy.apana.org.au wrote:
You're proposing adding a reified layer of appointed experts. I strongly suggest we are unlikely to go wrong by taking a much more gradual approach. e.g. the current proposal for reference tagging within the wiki markup, which would make articles far more checkable; the rating system already in play on test; approaches which would use the wiki method rather than seemingly invalidating it.
I certainly agree with David here. I certainly do not think that we should compromise the way Wikipedia works just to satisfy doubters.
As Wikipedia slowly improves, those voices will get quieter. Over time, more and more topic-specific experts will take an interest in Wikipedia and will be monitoring articles on their topics. Give it a few years, and the quality will improve immensely. There is no need to run before we have mastered walking.
Some additional software support as David describes would definitely help, but the biggest improvement will come with more eyes.
-Matt (User: Morven)