[WikiEN-l] So you think you can be a Wikipedia article

[Jesse W]

On Jul 24, 2006, at 2:06 PM, Stan Shebs wrote:
> But I don't think there's a whole lot of incentive or reward for
> leadership, so attempts tend to be brief and unsuccessful. Even if
> one manages to organize several like-minded editors into a
> cooperative effort, the newest of newbies can still come in and
> disrupt, oftentimes with the support of onlookers shrieking about
> cabals, and the would-be leader sees his/her investment in WP come
> to naught.
Then don't.  Make a fork.  Only allow "like-minded editors" to edit it, 
and go for it.  Heck, maybe it will work better than what we've got 
now.  I, at least, would be glad to have the competition.  And as for 
money issues, until/unless you get massive traffic, the hardware costs 
won't be too high.  I'll chip in some (~$25) seed money, if you really 
need it.

This is not a joke.  If you think you can make more progress in 
producing a free encyclopedia by working in an environment where "the 
newest of newbies" can't "come in and disrupt", then do it, and show 
us.  Rent some hardware, install Mediawiki on it, copy over a recent 
database dump, apply whatever restrictions you think will help you, and 
get down to work.  If it really works better than what we've got here, 
I'll bet many good editors will flock to it; if not, then we'll have a 
real-life example to point to when this discussion comes up again.  And 
even if it just lets you, Stan Shebs, write a few more excellent 
articles, that's a win in itself.  By all means - go to it!

<snip last paragraph>

Jesse Weinstein