[WikiEN-l] Re: Re: The whole point of wikipedia (Martin Richards)

[Fl Celloguy]

>
> > Personally I think that bad writing and driving away newcomers are the
> > two worst problems of the project.  The former can be fixed over time
> > with effort.  The latter will kill us if we keep it up.  Compared to
> > those, vandalism doesn't even count as a blip on the radar screen.
>
>Agree, but I think bad faith editing causes these problems. What do you
>think are the best methods to attract new users? Personally I think that if
>we only allowed editing from a registered with email account, the number of
>good productive editors would increase as our credibility would greatly
>increase. I know that is blasphemous and against wiki principle, but 
>frankly
>I don't give a s*** about wiki principle, I am only here to make a good
>encyclopedia.
>
>I think it is only a matter of time before a clone of wikipedia pops up 
>with
>restricted editing, gains some popularity (especially with academics), and
>over time makes Wikipedia start to look like the urban dicionary.
>
>p.s. I do love WIkipedia, really.
>
>Martin

We *do* have a clone that requires that has restricted editing. It's called 
wikinfo (http://www.wikinfo.org), and no IP editing is allowed. It's run by 
Fred Bauder, who is also one of our Arbitrators. You may ask him whether 
Wikinfo has signficant vandalism, but that's not the point: we're here to 
make a good encyclopedia as well. But if we restrict IP editing - even if we 
restrict it in some way, like with this blocking policy proposal - we'll get 
a worse encyclopedia. I would dare say maybe 80 percent or (probably) 
greater of our articles have been improved by IP edits. We're talking about 
fixing a minor problem to create a major one; Wikipedia's strength lies in 
the fact that *anyone*, regardless of whether that person uses AOL, Firefox, 
or XYZ ISP, can edit, even without logging in or registering. I doubt 
Wikipedia would be where it is now without IP editing; even right now, we 
have trouble retaining good editors and finding new ones. Should we make it 
that much harder to edit? Should we violate the sacred principles that 
Wikipedia was founded on? I hope not, and I think that the new blocking 
proposal would be highly detrimental.

Thanks.

P.S. I do love Wikipedia as well. :-)

Flcelloguy
>From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.

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