2008/9/2 Will will@nabble.com:
I emailed Jimmy Wales about adding a "real" discussion function to Wikipedia. He suggested that I post to this mailing list to start a discussion. Below are the 4 emails we exchanged. What do you think?
- My initial email:
Hi,
This is Will. I am the co-founder of Nabble, a project for making discussions better.
I have been following the discussions on the wikia mailing list (http://n2.nabble.com/Wikia-Search-f738587.html). I like your product design work and philosophy, for example, "avoid excessive a priori thinking", we do the same in our work.
I write to you because you don't seem to care much about discussions. On Wikipedia, the "discussion" tab is ubiquitous, but you don't allow people to discuss the subject there because discussions can ONLY be about improving the main page.
This rule sounds arbitrary. Why can't a I ask a question about the subject there? You have many experts and fellow users visiting the same page, wouldn't it be good if they can talk and socialize and help each other out? Communities grow there. You can have a separate discussion area dedicated to editors. But currently it's all editors. What's more, the design of the discussion function is so wiki-centric, you probably designed it on purpose in order to keep the regular guys out. You seem to be missing a community opportunity here.
I hope to continue this conversation, if you are interested...
Regards, Will
Your software does not appear to be open source.
Yes. You got my point. Asking questions and debating and watching other people ask and debate is a crucial part of learning. Have you ever learned a subject by just reading an article? For example, you can read an article on breast cancer, but if your wife has it, then you WILL have tons of questions, few of which are addressed by that article.
And those questions are best answered by a doctor.
Similarly, you can read the article on SEO, but if you are a web start-up that needs it, then you will have questions.
Perhaps but there are no shortage of SEO forums on the web.
Learning is called "学问" in Chinese. 学 means to "study", and 问 means to "question". Wikipedia has 学 but not 问. I am not just being philosophical here. I am a practical guy and I use wikipedia a lot. Right now I do the 问 part in other places, but you could have me easily. It will be a natural addition to Wikipedia.
Not really. You don't get discussion with say encarta.
You are saying that your goal is to create an encyclopedia and there is nothing else to it, right? You can always reject a new idea by stating an old goal. I say it's an old goal because it was already achieved a few years ago. Wiki is already history as Wikipedia has done nothing new since you started working on search engines.
Nothing new? Wikiversity? The in browser video player?
Maybe we can ask what is the goal of an encyclopedia? If you see it along the lines of learning (学问), then you will see my point as relevant. Otherwise, nice talking to you. I appreciate you actually get back to me.
An encyclopedia is a general source of knowledge.