On Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 5:24 AM, Marc Riddell michaeldavid86@comcast.net wrote:
On Sun, Nov 2, 2008 at 5:19 PM, Robert Rohde rarohde@gmail.com wrote:
There are many who seem to feel that using Wikipedia for socializing and fun is contrary to our mission, especially if it attracts people who aren't contributors to the encyclopedia. Personally, I think that's nonsense, and the community benefits from increased cohesion when there is fun and socializing to be had, but I realize that many people don't see it that way.
on 11/2/08 1:40 PM, Milos Rancic at millosh@gmail.com wrote:
- If the point is that a part of the community doesn't want to have
social networking because of the principles...
A sidebar: When The Apple Computer organization was created, a conscious decision was made by its creators to establish a company culture that was, by existing corporate standards, considered informal. This encouraged creativity, reduced stress and produced a culture of tolerance and, ultimately, a great product. Their mission was to create the best damn computer a creative mind in a creative culture could produce. "Socializing" among its employees was not only encouraged, but the ability to socialize was almost a prerequisite for being a part of the team.
I think we already have a very social environment, but this socialising is "focused". We chat about topics that interest us all the time on the wikis, usually with people who are also similarly interested enthusiasts and often with people who are surprisingly well informed. But, we are always doing it in a way that is also "productive".
For example, we dont endlessly tolerate trolling and idle speculation on Wikipedia, because it isnt productive. It isnt strictly forbidden, but if it is done on pages that others frequent, it will be viewed as an interruption, because there is more valuable discussions going on, and the rest of us want to focus on those, and we want to "clear the air" so that more valuable contributions are attracted.
There is so much to learn and participate in on the wikis, that if someone is primarily socialising, they havent caught the "wiki bug". These are the people who would be fired from Apple because they didnt fit in.
The quality of a culture can be measured, in part, by what that culture produces.
I think it is fair to say that the Wikimedia culture has already proved itself to be a producer of the "impossible". This speaks volumes about the culture as it is.
Can our culture be improved? Perhaps.
But ... it isn't broken, so we should be wary about trying to "fix it".
Thanks for your input Marc.
-- John Vandenberg