2009/6/21 Cormac Lawler cormaggio@gmail.com:
I think what's interesting here is asking: how does Wikipedia harness the energy of the public (for want of a better word) in a way that can be more productive, useful (or at least less brain-sporkingly nonsensical) than a newspaper open comment section does? What is it about this way of working - this mode of production - that works well? And what is afforded by 'open commenting' that the wiki model doesn't? (I don't we should overly idealise the wiki model - I'm sure we've all sporked our brains out over on-wiki affairs at some stage or another.)
I recall a presentation by Brion Vibber with a slide that said something like:
* Let any idiot edit your website * Make sure the good idiots outnumber the bad idiots
- d.