Well I for one don't like it! *HMPH!*
That being said, the roughtype article kind of sensationalizes the results. Matching test subjects simply by internet usage doesn't really cut it. Picking 69 wikipedians will likely inherently skew the results. The researchers would have to specifically find users who will
1. Respond 2. Comply 3. Give an easy way to contact them
These users are for more likely to be involved in perhaps the more Wikipedia-esque aspects (AfD, NFC, all the other Three-Letter Acronyms) and are probably yes, inherently more likely to be more comfortable online. Compare that to 70 students who spend their comparable time downloading "Single Ladies," movies, and porn, and the results almost laid out for you.
Moreover, the result was that Wikipedians scored low on "scored low on agreeableness and openness." Well... those aren't exactly the traits Wikipedia needs or wants. Useful, yes, but not necessary. Wikipedia, operates on consensus, not unanimous voting. I may still hate your idea, but it's going to happen if there's consensus for it, agreeableness or not. It DOES seem to indicate that Wikipedians have at least normal conscientiousness and neuroticism, which would certainly lend well to working on an encyclopedia.
~Amory
On Sat, Jun 27, 2009 at 18:20, Marc Riddellmichaeldavid86@comcast.net wrote:
Very appropriate to this discussion.
MR
From: Eddie Tejeda eddie@visudo.com Reply-To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Date: Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:57:44 -0700 To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: [Foundation-l] "antisocial production"
'Forget altruism. Misanthropy and egotism are the fuel of online social production. That's the conclusion suggested by a new study of the character traits of the contributors to Wikipedia. A team of Israeli research psychologists gave personality tests to 69 Wikipedians and 70 non-Wikipedians. They discovered that, as New Scientist puts ithttp://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16349-psychologist-finds-wikipedian s-grumpy-and-closedminded.html, Wikipedians are generally "grumpy," "disagreeable," and "closed to new ideas."' http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2009/06/the_sour_wikipe.php
I wonder how the mailing list will react.... _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
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