[Foundation-l] Has Wikipedia changed since 2005?

[Peter Damian]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <WJhonson at aol.com>
To: <foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2010 5:48 PM
Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Has Wikipedia changed since 2005?

> Yes I now see the problem :)
> Ivory tower eggheads who think they have the right now, to talk down to
> other contributors instead of educating them.
> If you, as an academic, cannot explain your edit/article/sentence to a
> person who isn't already an expert in your field, then you simply are too
> rarified to find a home here at Wikipedia and good riddance, in my 
> opinion.
>
> We don't need *more* huffing and puffing, put-out little boys fingering 
> our
> project.
> Articles which can only be understood and thus edited by those with IQs
> over 165 should probably be consigned to specialist (read read by few)
> periodicals.

You have made your view very clear.  I've tried to be polite, and to avoid 
any talking-down, and I am sorry if it has appeared that way.  You use the 
collective 'we', meaning you speak for all Wikipedians.  To the other 
Wikipedians here: is there a problem with academics 'talking down'?  Do they 
have a problem explaining their ideas in articles?  Are they 'too rarified' 
to be included in Wikipedia?  If so, can Wikipedia do without them? If not, 
how could they be encouraged to contribute better?