Jan-Paul Köster wrote:
Hello everyone,
I think the core question in this discussion is not "Can people change
other peoples comments so that they contradict the original poster's
point of view?" but the question is "Do people actually change other
peoples comments so that they misstate the original poster's point of
view, and are they successful or are those changes quickly reverted
wiki-style?"
The answer to the first question is clearly "yes" which sufficiently
explains why many people are afraid of it happening (one side of the
posters here). The answer to the second question cannot be given very
easily but from my experience the wiki system generally works also in
discussions. So can the wiki system be abused? Yes! Is it actually
being abused? I don't see it.
I am sorry to say that I have seen
misrepresentations occur on several
occasions. Problematic is that when you start adding comments like I do
now in this post, you are likely to have follow up reactions and as a
consequence you may not appreciate what was said later in the Wiki
format. Certainly when a comment is over several paragraphs this is
often seen. The worst case of splitting is when paragraphs are split up
resulting in something that that can really be badly read. Asking people
to refrain from doing this resulted in the statement that it is allowed
by the GFDL and that it is old style Internet working method (as if this
is an excuse).
The fear of abuse is the prime argument that critics of wikis in
general bring forward and the general answer to it is to look at what
actually happens and be amazed that it does in fact work by just
trusting people and assuming good faith. I feel the same arguments
apply to the discussion pages.
So what's my opinion? I am in favor of keeping the discussion pages
wiki style, refactorable, editable by all but as Timwi proposed adding
a "This comment was last edited on <timestamp> by <username> which
will allow other users to easily spot any abuse while keeping all
wiki-advantages.
I do not have opinion as to what to do differently. With technical
solutions you do not take away the core problem. Behaviour acceptable to
some is not acceptable to others. I think we do a reasonable job at
keeping things reasonable. By raising the threshold for nuisance you
only get worse nuisance.. I think we are fortunate that things are as
good as they are. So to express my opinion.. let's be conservative :)
Thanks,
GerardM