[WikiEN-l] Jimbo interview

[Ray Saintonge]

Sam Korn wrote:
> 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.
>   

An enforced POV cannot really be neutral.

> (Similarly, NPOV would be extremely difficult to manage with a small
> base of users as discussion (and, to some extent, conflict) is
> essential.)
>
>   
Not really, in a paradoxical way.  Many rarely visited articles on 
non-controversial subjects already achieve that neutrality.  An 
unchallenged article written by a single person is neutral at the moment 
it is written, and remains so until challenged.  If the content is 
outrageous that neutrality will seldom last more than a few minutes.

Ec