phoebe ayers wrote:
I find that the idea that there are people behind wikipedia is something most readers don't think about or realize. If you are in the habit of thinking of wikipedia as a monolithic thing that magically appears ("wikipedia says that..." "wikipedia doesn't cover engineering well...") rather than as something that's actually created by people, you might be less likely to participate yourself.
The approach we are talking about is just what "Dilbert" does: the apparent premise is that people who work in those technology cubicles are impossibly needy. and the subtext is that "unless you are thoughtless about the technology you use, you'd better realise that it is a human creation". Parodying Wikimedians as Wikineedyans is the same play, and there would be little comedy about it unless the world wanted the WMF and its works. Which it does, so there.
Charles