On 9/2/07, Marc Riddell michaeldavid86@comcast.net wrote:
Folks,
I have just spent some time reviewing the List's archives for the past several months, and it is clear something is changing and not for the good. The dialogues have become more combative, argumentative and downright mean. The individual contributions have become more aggressive, intolerant, patronizing, bullying, insulting, and downright mean. There has been a steady decline in fairness, civility and just plain listening.
It has gotten to the point where a person needs to dress in helmet and full padding before submitting a post. How many persons, who would otherwise contribute to the List, simply choose not to - feeling it's not worth the hassle?
What's going on?
Marc Riddell
I've been a member for a while now, and I don't necessarily think that it has gotten much worse lately. This list has always been contentious as hell and I doubt that will ever change. This isn't just another random discussion-board on the internet, all of us here are passionately devoted to the same cause. We don't just discuss because we like discussing, we do it because we genuinely care about Wikipedia and think that the work we are doing is important and have an impact. And when you get that many really smart people in the same place, all fervently advocating their point of view, contention happen.
I do agree with you though, the threads often get unnecessarily hostile. But there is no quick fix for this, it is a social problem. All we can do is ask people to tough it out, not take to much offence and not go down the same path themselves.
Occasional reminders of this are good, though :)
--Oskar