Jimmy Wales wrote:
But, I think that at least some people
really *ought* to have a simple check on their behavior, a way for them to look at a number and say "Oh, I've been rude." I think some people are simply lacking in the social skills to know about such things for themselves.
I think the web-of-trust system could help check antisocial behavior without resorting to numerical ratings. I would suggest implementing it so that if User:Jimbo Wales adds User:Michael Snow to his list of people he distrusts, the system automatically posts that fact on User talk:Michael Snow. That would be a fairly clear message and should get my attention, especially when it's followed up by others from those who agree with Jimbo. The people that don't respond to that kind of correction probably don't care, and will stay rude no matter what kind of feedback system we use.
--Michael Snow
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
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