[WikiEN-l] Jimbo interview

[Fred Bauder]

> On Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 12:36 PM, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 2009/4/5 Oskar Sigvardsson <oskarsigvardsson at gmail.com>:
>>
>>> I think it's very clear that wikipedia has developed a very successful
>>> model, not least because many other wikis seem to almost automatically
>>> adopt our style and policies. In short: Wikipedia Works.
>>
>>
>> NPOV is our key innovation. Much more radical than letting anyone edit
>> the website.
>
> I agree.  The only way a wiki that says "anyone can edit" can work is
> with NPOV.  You can either enforce a POV by banning people who don't
> share your point of view, or you can explicitly endorse *no-one's*
> point of view.

The obvious alternative is to allow point of view editing but structure
the wiki to include articles from diverse points of view, not an
innovation, editorial pages of major newspapers are typically structured
in that way.

> (Similarly, NPOV would be extremely difficult to manage with a small
> base of users as discussion (and, to some extent, conflict) is
> essential.)
>
> --
> Sam

Yes, but failures to present a complete spectrum of points of view can be
balanced by including a "NPOV" article imported from Wikipedia.

Fred