Tim Starling wrote:

Some Wikipedians report having started with this kind of casual contribution, and say they would never have become active if there were barriers to entry.

I wouldn't have ever become a Wikipedian if I had to log-in first. I already have too many user accounts on different websites so I only create new accounts where I think the service is worth it. It took me a day editing as an anon to figure that out for Wikipedia. So anon editing is a very useful recruitment tool.

The major charm of Wikipedia is that it is open to anybody to edit - anytime. Forcing logins will only result in logged-in vandals (logging-in doesn't prevent trolling on Slashdot). None of the developers seem at all interested in this. So barring a major user revolt I don't think this is something that we need to spend a lot of time arguing over.

Better to set-up webs of trust and other ways to filter edits. I would, however, still like to force anons to preview articles before saving them (reasons given in a previous post). That should at least slow anon vandals down.

--mav

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