I was describing to someone how Wikipedia works: "anyone can edit" etc.
He answered with this argument: "Wikipedia is the triumph of the average person! of the man in the street!)"
(average meaning: not good, not bad, just OK)
I asked "why?"
His explanation: "Great brilliant works are built by individuals. Groups of people can only create average works. If someone writes something good in the wiki, other average persons will intervene with his/her work and turn it into an average work. If someone writes something bad in the wiki, the others will again turn it into something of average value. with your system (meaning: Wikipedia's system) you can be sure that you will never create something too bad but also never something too good. You can create only average articles."
The idea behind his argument was that Wikipedia will be a good resource as long as it attracts good cotnributors. but it will soon become an average site/encyclopaedia because it allows anyone to join the project and edit, and most people are just average persons and not brilliant writers.
Do you think it's true? and how can we answer this argument?
--Optim
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