On 1/5/06, Peter Mackay peter.mackay@bigpond.com wrote:
From: wikien-l-bounces@Wikipedia.org [mailto:wikien-l-bounces@Wikipedia.org] On Behalf Of Garion1000
On 1/5/06, Geoff Burling llywrch@agora.rdrop.com wrote:
. People of the same POV have always found each other on
Wikipedia, &
Userboxes are hardly a powerful new tool to accomplish this.
But userboxes makes it a lot easier to do so. Look it two AFD's. The one for some catholic encyclopedians and the gay rights in iraq article.
So what are you saying? It should be *hard* for Wikipedians to find others with similar interests?
No, but to find others with a simular POV is different. A userbox stating one person is an expert or has much knowledge on gay rights I don't mind. (Whether that user is pro or against them). A userbox stating that person is against gay rights is different. The same counts for userboxes for "I am a republican" vs "I am a republican party expert", creationism/evolution vs ...., I hate Bush etc etc.
The community aspect of Wikipedia is vitally important. In fact it's one of the marvels of the Internet, to see such a grand project being constructed as a co-operative effort. To my mind, anything that increases community bonds without detracting from the main objective is something that should be encouraged.
Maybe it's because I don't see it as creating a community bond but more like creating POV groups withing the community. At least userboxes make that much easier. Therein lies the danger. IMO of course.
Garion