Christopher Mahan wrote:
--- Jimmy Wales jwales@wikia.com wrote:
I had an idea the other day while I was on a radio interview.
I personally don't like the idea, because it does create a sense of "I have a PHD in Astrophysics and you don't so stfu" that I don't think would be conducive to the exercise of wikilove.
I do agree that this is a danger to be considered.
I would say that userpages are a great place for this sort of information. If you have a degree in Engineering from CalTech, put the year you graduated. If you have 12 years experience in laying Italian marble, say so. If you're been working for the Japanese Consulate in Los Angeles for 9 years, write it down.
Yes, but the point is to make this kind of information available in a format that is more usable to our readers.
I think that very little of the world's knowledge and expertise is accurately captured by academia's diplomas.
I agree, and I think that our view of credentials should be fairly expansive.
I would also say, as someone pointed out, that the very lack of prominent information about authors leads people to contribute who don't want to be in the limelight of controversy, something which I think is the plague of most other online content systems.
And this is a good reason to never require it.
I think that when professionals come in to look at wikipedia and see the articles in their area of expertise, and see the quality of the writing, the clarity in which ideas are expressed, and the accuntability of the system, they immediately realise that this is not usenet.
Yes, but "not usenet" is a fairly low aspiration. :-)
--Jimbo