Hoi, When you look at developments in the MediaWiki software, you find that usability is considered to be of prime importance. The software to make it easy to upload to Commons is in the finishing stages. There is a project waiting in the wings to make the creation of a user account much simpler.
If anything we are riding out toward the people and attempt to make it a modern experience. In order to make Wikipedia attractive, we can learn from our friends at Wikia. For them it makes commercial sense to grow their traffic. For us it makes ideological sense to grow our traffic. Never mind the rationale we achieve our goals by bringing information to our public.
The notion that we will be this all encompassing source of encyclopaedic wisdom is a static goal. Its achievement lies in the future. In the mean time we should enjoy the journey towards this goal. Circling the wagons is a defensive action. It is aimed at shooting the "injuns". We are not cowboys, and if we were, we would be driving the herd to pastures green. The wagons would be behind the herd, eating dust and doing whatever to make the journey enjoyable and getting the herd in good health to the other side of the rainbow. Thanks, GerardM
On 26 September 2010 13:09, Fred Bauder fredbaud@fairpoint.net wrote:
----- Original Message ----- From: "Gerard Meijssen" gerard.meijssen@gmail.com To: fredbaud@fairpoint.net; "Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List" foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Sent: Saturday, September 25, 2010 10:35 PM Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] How bureaucracy works: the example
[...] Wikipedia is one of the biggest websites in the world. Obviously that is not how the reality of our success is measured.
Of course not. The reality of its success would be: being a comprehensive and reliable reference source. It is not, yet.
Peter
When you're a big success it is very hard to continue to take the necessary actions to achieve genuine greatness. The usual response to suggestions of change is to circle the wagons.
Fred
foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l