[Foundation-l] Greetings, Wikimedians

James Hare messedrocker at gmail.com
Sun Jun 18 18:02:08 UTC 2006


Let's assume we're going to go with the editable-drafts-protected-mainspace
plan.

If I were checking the edits of a page, I would do each individual edit at a
time. I'd take a look at the addition to the page, check out the source they
supplied, and make sure that the source and the edit say the same thing. If
the source doesn't justify the addition, the addition is removed. If there
are no sources, it's removed, no questions asked. If the source justifies
the edit, it gets approved and added to the mainspace version. It wouldn't
be that hard: all you have to do is go to the source listed and make sure
that it all checks out. If it's hard to tell, then it's best to withhold the
information and contact the editor. Ideally, once an edit is made to a
draft, an administrator should take a look at the individual edit and check
it. For that reason, it'd be good to make sure there's a good proportion of
administrators to regular users to expedite the process.

Alternatively, we could create a new level of users that would be capable of
editing the main space: they could receive this status if they have a good
history of editing. This set of users wouldn't even have to make their own
edits on the drafts; they could simply edit the main space version (but once
they mess up, they'd better be ready to fix it and apologize). The benefit
of this middle-point between administrators and regular users is that if
they're trusted to make useful edits, but not necessarily trusted with admin
tools, they can receive this status.

To answer your question, Lord Voldemort, the accuracy on the wiki (that is,
the main space, as opposed to the drafts) depends on how dedicated the
administrator is. Or the slightly-elevated user, if we implement that
system. If we wisely appoint these people, we won't be disappointed. I'm
sure we have people motivated to work on such a daring endeavor. I know I
am.

On 6/18/06, Lord Voldemort <lordbishopvoldemort at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> So is every single edit going to be researched? If I were to come in
> switch a dosage of some medicine from 10mg to 100mg, throw up a junk
> source to WebMD, is someone who might not intricately know the
> specific medications going to go to each source and check even the
> most minor of edits?
>
> Don't take this as huge criticism, I am just looking for fundamental
> flaws.  Thanks.
> --LV
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