Wikipedia has strong network effects, but like any bubble, needs to fulfill its promise, by actually filling in reliable content, a project Larry Sanger is unlikely to assist with either personally or by mobilizing other talent.
Fred
From: David Gerard fun@thingy.apana.org.au Reply-To: wikipedia-l@Wikimedia.org Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2005 23:24:59 +1100 To: wikipedia-l@Wikimedia.org Subject: [Wikipedia-l] They don't want a fork - they want to change *this* project (was A Solution to Larry Sanger's Criticisms - Project Has Been Around For A While)
Lars Aronsson (lars@aronsson.se) [050205 09:24]:
I think there is a good deal of substance in Larry Sanger's and Robert McHenry's criticism. They are correct as long as they describe the problem they see. However, the outsider's perceived anti-elitism doesn't necessarily originate from an intentional anti-elitism in the community. And since it isn't intentional, it is quite impossible to "abandon" this anti-elitism, so Larry fails provide a solution. He suggests a fork of the project. Yes, maybe he should try this.
He specifically didn't suggest a fork, as far as I can see - he wanted to change *this* project's working methods.
The thing is, it's blindingly obvious that Wikipedia is going to be THE encyclopedia. Wikipedia, not some other open-content web-based encyclopedia, will have the brand identification Britannica had in the 20th century. We are it. We are the one. Anyone else catching up is as unlikely as FreeBSD taking over market share from Linux, even as its fans swear by it.
The annoying aspect of this is that (a) the POV warriors have a point: this is the popular one they need to hit to push their POV as NPOV; (b) people annoyed at Wikipedia don't form a fork with different policies, they're going to try to change this project instead. So Larry Sanger doesn't talk about forming another project with policies to his liking - he talks about how to put a spanner in the works of this one before it's too late.
- d.
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