Michael Snow wrote:
I think the web-of-trust system could help check
antisocial behavior
without resorting to numerical ratings.
I guess I see some advantage to the numerical ratings on the other side:
rather than punishing bad behavior, it could reward good behavior.
Especially if it were broken down into several categories ("article
quality", "social [something]", etc.), it might provide some sort of
incentive. We can already see people are somewhat interested in the
"number of edits" statistic, which provides a small but non-zero
recognition to the people who have been particularly active in bringing
Wikipedia to where it is now. But that statistic is obviously fairly
crude and flawed, so replacing it with at least a rudimentary rating
system would reward people who write tons of articles with a nice rating
that at least reassures them that their contributions are recognized and
appreciated by the community. And it's free.
-Mark