On 12/20/05, Magnus Manske magnus.manske@web.de wrote:
Wikipedia Romania (Ronline) wrote:
Finally, I'd just like to let everyone remember where Wikipedia started. The factor that's distinguished Wikipedia from basically every other reference work on Earth has been its *absolutely* open nature. Anyone can edit it! That's what's worked so well in ensuring such a dynamic, comprehensive, deep and updated encyclopedia.
And with stable versions, that would change how? (Yes, it's a trick question: it wouldn't.)
Magnus
Oh, it would change very significantly. Under the first model, if stable versions are to be locked, then obviously no-one could edit them, thus going against the principle of Wikipedia. If the second proposal is to be adopted, which involves creating a new namespace/subpage for stable versions, it would still reduce the freedom of editors. Wikipedia was founded on the principle that *anyone* could edit the encyclopedia, and that their edits would be immediately seen. If the stable versions proposal becomes policy, there will be two versions of each article. Of course, the stable version would become the most respected version, while the "open" version would become sort of a draft. Therefore, when someone makes an edit to the editable version, his edit won't be immediately reflected in the stored version, even if it's an update. And when there's two versions of an article, readers will always choose the stable version, and thus, any edits to the editable version basically become unnecessary until they become incorporated into a new stable version, which according to the proposal, takes a large amount of consensus. Thus, Wikipedia's open, immediate nature becomes very cumbersome and it would become sort of like a Nupedia - a peer-reviewed encyclopedia instead of a true open encyclopedia.
I think the proponents of these policies hide behind the fact that they are only "minor changes", but I think that all of the new proposals - from banning anons from creating articles, to semi-protection to stable versions, are all slippery-slope attempts to somehow make Wikipedia more restricted to combat vandalism. Combating vandalism is a worthy cause, but freedom comes first. We're the free encyclopedia, after all.
Ronline