[WikiEN-l] "Who The Hell Writes Wikipedia, Anyway?"

[Steve Summit]

A recent recycling of Aaron Swartz's analysis of the difference
between who-makes-the-most-edits, versus who-contributes-the-most-content:

	<http://www.alleyinsider.com/2009/1/who-the-hell-writes-wikipedia-anyway>

I think we all know the real story, but it's fascinating how much
traction the "bulk of Wikipedia is written by 1400 obsessed
freaks" meme still gets (including, for example, the referenced
blog post <http://www.collegeotr.com/college_otr/734_percent_of_all_
wikipedia_edits_are_made_by_roughly_1400_people_17499> from last week).

Yet another reason to Shun Any Reliance On Raw Edit Counts.
(But boy, is it easy to depend on them, since they're so easy
to get your hands on.  And did Jimbo really once assert that
"Wikipedia was actually written by 'a community ... a dedicated
group of a few hundred volunteers' where 'I know all of them and
they all know each other'"?)