[WikiEN-l] Introducing WikiMoney

[The Cunctator]

On 5/11/03 10:16 PM, "Axel Boldt" <axelboldt at yahoo.com> wrote:

> --- Daniel Ehrenberg <littledanehren at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> That's a great idea, but I think anyone should get
>> their $100 for being a wikipedia contributer, not just
>> the long-term ones. How could it be misused?
> 
> If everybody could get WikiDollars (now also known as WikiSmilies) just
> for the asking, then the currency would be worthless and it would end
> in rampant inflation. Right now, a WikiSmilie has a quite definite
> value: it is worth about 2 edits.
> 
On the talk page I said this is a hilariously bad idea. At the same time, I
don't want Axel to think I'm being completely flippant in my criticism.
Quantification of goodwill is difficult and necessarily perverts the
goodwill itself. For one thing, goodwill/love/friendship is not a finite
resource. Then there is the simple fact that if this idea enjoys any
popularity it will rapidly become completely unworkable. There's a good
reason bankers and accountants exist. And if it doesn't enjoy any
popularity, it's worthless.

Better is to adjudge what goals creating such a page was intended to
accomplish and then try to figure out a better-planned structure for meeting
such goals.