J.F. de Wolff wrote:
Articles develop Darwinistically. They emerge from primordial soup (substubs, anon newbie edits) and evolve as more people add material.
The essence of my talk in Berlin was to argue against this view of how wikipedia operates. Obviously, there is something to it if we streeeeeeetch the "Darwinistic" metaphor to the breaking point. But in the main, I think this analogy is one which misleads us into incorrect conclusions.
This is not to say that any of your particularly conclusions is wrong. I am just saying that I think that the "Darwinistic" model is more of a hindrance than a help in understanding how to improve things.
--Jimbo