[WikiEN-l] Re: Anonymous proxies (was Re: Desysop Morwen)

[Daniel Mayer]

Tim Starling wrote:
> Some Wikipedians report having started with this kind 
> of casual contribution, and say they would never have 
> become active if  there were barriers to entry.

I wouldn't have ever become a Wikipedian if I had to log-in first. I already
have too many user accounts on different websites so I only create new accounts
where I think the service is worth it. It took me a day editing as an anon to
figure that out for Wikipedia. So anon editing is a very useful recruitment
tool. 

The major charm of Wikipedia is that it is open to anybody to edit - anytime.
Forcing logins will only result in logged-in vandals (logging-in doesn't
prevent trolling on Slashdot). None of the developers seem at all interested in
this. So barring a major user revolt I don't think this is something that we
need to spend a lot of time arguing over.

Better to set-up webs of trust and other ways to filter edits. I would,
however, still like to force anons to preview articles before saving them
(reasons given in a previous post). That should at least slow anon vandals
down. 

--mav

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