[WikiEN-l] Difficulty making structural changes to WP due to human nature?

[Ray Saintonge]

On 09/19/11 11:35 AM, Carcharoth wrote:
> Doesn't this approach assume that people all interact with Wikipedia
> in the same way? Many people only participate in a vanishingly small
> part of Wikipedia and you can have some areas that are deserted and
> others that are very active. This isn't found by looking at global
> statistics, but by looking at the actual editing and histories out
> there "on the ground".
>

Most don't just interact in different ways, but at different times.  I 
may have been interested in a topic a year ago, When the topic seemed 
stable I would have gone on to something very different several times 
over the course of the year. Now, when the year-old topic bursts into 
flames, giving it due consideration requires that  I put aside my 
current interests to defend the old topic from people who show no 
evidence of having put any serious study.  They may just be applying 
some new rule on a policy page whose changes I would have had no reason 
to monitor. If my previous work was referenced with borrowed books I may 
no longer have access to those books to support my case.

Ec