[WikiEN-l] Steven Walling: Why Wikipedians Are Weird

[Charles Matthews]

phoebe ayers wrote:
>  I find that the idea that there are people
> behind wikipedia is something most readers don't think about or
> realize. If you are in the habit of thinking of wikipedia as a
> monolithic thing that magically appears ("wikipedia says that..."
> "wikipedia doesn't cover engineering well...") rather than as
> something that's actually created by people, you might be less likely
> to participate yourself.
>   
The approach we are talking about is just what "Dilbert" does: the 
apparent premise is that people who work in those technology cubicles 
are impossibly needy. and the subtext is that "unless you are 
thoughtless about the technology you use, you'd better realise that it 
is a human creation". Parodying Wikimedians as Wikineedyans is the same 
play, and there would be little comedy about it unless the world wanted 
the WMF and its works. Which it does, so there.

Charles