[WikiEN-l] NY Times article on gender gap in Wikipedia contributors

[Stephanie Daugherty]

On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 10:30 AM, Charles Matthews <
charles.r.matthews at ntlworld.com> wrote:

>
> But I think you misunderstand: "user friendliness" is a term applied to
> software and interfaces, not communities.


As far as new users go, the community, the software, and the interface are
one in the same, for better or worse, so while the usage may not be correct,
the concept behind it is a pretty accurate description. Wikipedia is the sum
of the content, software, and community that powers it, and if the initial
experiences someone has are negative - or even if later experiences are
negative, people will treat it as a reflection on all of Wikipedia rather
than as an experience with one editor.

-Stephanie