In a message dated 3/11/2007 3:48:48 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, erik@wikimedia.org writes:
Quite to the contrary, the addition of a noisy category can reduce noise in others. Furthermore, disclosure of friendships can help to predict and understand bias, just like disclosure of official affiliations.
The idea of being fair should be handled correctly. Wikipedia only received its 501(c)(3) predetermination status last year. I can see temptation to forget that donors actually spend money and editors actually spend time and work on articles, not to mention the work of the nonprofit. However, Wikipedia also speaks for a whole new potential knowledge base, so the Wikimedia Foundation should value the quality of articles here. Instead, I see too much value of getting along over knowledge.
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