On 8/7/06, Fastfission fastfission@gmail.com wrote:
I think steps like this are the sort of thing which can help build a better, or at least less one-sided, rapport between Wikipedia and relevant expert communities. Even though Wikipedia is open for all there is no great reason that experts should be discouraged from participating. We have a lot of academics at Wikipedia, it would be great if they were willing to defend it to their relevant communities, especially since it appears to have a fairly low standing in academia (due to its sloppy use as a source by sloppy students -- the problem here is not Wikipedia specifically; they'd probably use uncritically whatever came up first in Google, and we happened to be it).
The problem is partially that academics who have had bad experiences with Wikipedia (students citing it, or them getting into edit wars with laypeople) are very vocal about it. Those that have positive experiences keep them to themselves. It's probably the nature of the game - Wikipedia thrives on quiet contributors, strong personalities tend to cause problems.
Steve