[WikiEN-l] Psychological correlates of deletionism/inclusionism?

[Charles Matthews]

On 14 April 2013 13:28, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 14 April 2013 12:24, Charles Matthews
> <charles.r.matthews at ntlworld.com> wrote:
>
>> Mmm, I remember that mail and whom I suggested ...
>
>
> I didn't see you in that thread ... who were you thinking of?

It was a private reply and explanation about a well-known critic of
our BLPs. Water under the bridge.

>> I'm still quite deletionist on BLPs because of examples where our
>> "rules" are too easy to game. I'm certainly not an anti-stub
>> deletionist because that I see as destructive of future growth, and I
>> improve many stubs these days. If "passionate" means "nuance-free",
>> which is a fair cop much of the time, then I agree with you.
>
>
> I favour James Forrester and Thomas Dalton's arguments here:
>
> http://www.mail-archive.com/wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org/msg01454.html
>
> - that Wikipedia started as anything-goes, this was severely cut back
> and we're now closer to a nuanced equilibrium.

Almost all attempts at writing enWP's history are good (I except the
one at Wikimania in DC which was a multi-dimensional trainwreck).

I had my pet theory for a few years, that there was too little
disruption - which I kept quiet about for several reasons, not the
least of which was that I'm unsure of the spelling of Nietzsche at the
best of times, but am sure I don't want to be associated with him.
Also from a wonkish point of view saying that makes for no useful
policy point arising. It mostly harks back to good old days that are
really very fictional.

We're not yet at a healthy equilibrium. I've used the history in a
workshop once, and the editor retention graph shows the need to be
thoughtful.

It is clear that we moved away from the old-style "What I Know Is"
criterion for inclusion quite sharply in 2007. What needs to be
explained more clearly is what took its place. I remember saying to
Brianna Laugher at the time - she raised the point in Taipei, so was
ahead of many of us - that "people who like rules" were displacing the
old-school guys. Five years on I'm still hoping for the one-liner that
says it better. I produced one for JISC when I was talking to them
with Martin Poulter. Either it wasn't really memorable, or I'm having
a senior moment and it'll come back to me.

Charles