[WikiEN-l] What is happening to the community

[SlimVirgin]

Erik Möller wrote in another thread:

"[T]he real substance here is the destructiveness on the margins of
our own community; that is what we must address. Wikimedia has
cultivated a tolerance for open hostility. If we see ourselves as a
community with a shared purpose, let's start acting like one. That
doesn't mean blindly following the leader - I have had my fair share
of arguments with Jimmy over the years - but it does mean rejecting
the destructive, malicious behavior that we have seen in recent days."

Erik is right. What is happening to the community is the real issue.
Even when I joined Wikipedia as a relative latecomer in 2004, the
sense of community and shared purpose was still palpable. People fell
out, of course, and made mistakes, but AGF wasn't an empty gesture or
a rule we blindly followed. We assumed good faith because we were all
here to give of our time, without payment or any benefit other than a
feeling of satisfaction, to produce something that might help to
educate and enlighten other people. In exchange, we hoped that others
would educate and enlighten us. It was the most inspiring idea I'd
ever come across, that people all over the world could unite to
benefit each other in that way.

But suddenly Wikipedia became very popular, and there was more money
than before, and people started jockeying for position, and now we're
tearing each other apart.

Everyone involved in this, no matter how right they feel they are, has
to somehow muster the strength and courage to put their individual
interests to one side and focus on the project, because it really is a
wonderful, unique, awe-inspiring thing we're involved in here.  I
think we forget this because we see it from the inside. We get jaded.

The question for good people on all sides is: what can we do now to
help save and protect this community and its ideals?

Sarah