On Jan 8, 2005, at 9:52 PM, Jens Ropers wrote:
<slagging> No, no. It's not that he doesn't like it ''in principle''. He loves ''the idea'' so much, he wishes he'd had it ''first'' -- and he'd do anything to make his own MediaWiki install catch up with and overtake Wikipedia. (Am I right not, NSK? ;-) Could take some time though, I reckon. </slagging>
-- ropers [[en:User:Ropers]] www.ropersonline.com
First in the field isn't always last on the field. There are cogent criticisms from Sanger and NSK which should be incorporated into future work. Articles like Flood geology are going to be a credibility problem until they are dealt with, and the vulnerability of wikipedia to being capsized by organized groups of poves is a security flaw for which there are not sufficient safeguards.
Wikipedia is a unique place and a unique project, but the bleeding edge keeps moving forward. While NSK's POV may not be welcome or popular, and I certainly don't endorse his solutions, he is expressing useful information that will be required to win over sceptics. The argument is very similar to the Linux/NetBSD arguments. NetBSD wanted more verification on contributors, and probably produced a slightly better OS, Linux won the mindshare war, simply because it could capture talent early.