[Foundation-l] The 'Undue Weight' of Truth on Wikipedia (from the Chronicle) + some citation discussions

[Thomas Morton]

>
> "What *was* at issue here is how we treat new users; the discussion was
> approached (on the part of our editors) either as a battleground/fight, or
> in a quite patronising way. The issue here was that someone was put off
> from raising the issues."
>
> The "expertise" that is most valued at Wikipedia is expertise in Wikipedia
> itself  - its policies, procedures, technology, etc - rather than expertise
> in the content. That's a fundamental cultural flaw if the project is to
> succeed.
>

In a sense; though, as one academic pointed out to me, writing
an encyclopaedia is a skill in itself. And just because one is a topic area
expert does not immediately make them the most capable of writing the
article (in some respects it makes them less capable than an interested
layman).


> In reference to other comments here about the treatment of new editors,
> there has been a noticeable (to me at least) shift away from the role of
> administrators and "senior editors" from helping newcomers overcome the
> challenges to finding them a nuisance.


I don't think this is an issue of sysops or "senior editors" - it is
ingrained in the vast majority of the community.

For example we know it is common in newer/younger editors to "bite" or
otherwise apply policy too strongly - because with regularity we have to
deal with the fall out (i.e. mentor them).

I see the same issues with content editors as well; with resistance to
anyone trying to add content to articles they've invested in (I don't just
mean subject matter experts).

Realistically *we are all part of the problem*. You, me, etc. because the
problem is the entire ecosystem. Even stuff we think is polite and sensible
might be incomprehensible to a newbie. Simple things like linking to, or
quoting, parts of policy instead of taking time to write a simple
explanation. The use of templates. The resistance to listen to arguments.
It all adds up into a confusing user experience.

This is not a new problem; many online communities suffer, and have
suffered, from it.

All of the things I mentioned are useful once your dealing with editors
aware of the workings - it's not "new and scary" at that point and acts as
a useful shortcut to streamline our interaction. The key thing to work on,
I think, is easing newbies into that process without bombarding them with
too much of it at once.

Tom