[Foundation-l] Rewarding volunteers

[John Collison]

I have to say I agree with Jimbo on this one. I was thinking about 
Wikipedia in the future for a while and I think we have to be careful 
where we go from here. Think about it, Wikipedia started out with a 
simple vision: a free encyclopedia where anyone could edit anything. 
Now, sysops, developers etc are getting more power, anons less trusted, 
and there is talk of paying developers. If we're not cautious, we could 
end up just like a conventional online encyclopedia. Sort of like the 
way animal farm went :-/.
I think we should try and preserve the original idea of Wikipedia (and 
Wikimedia projects in general).

  -- John Collison (Ludraman)
         P.S. Sorry if I've made some mistake here it's my first time 
posting on the mailing list!

On 12 Sep 2004, at 15:21, Jimmy (Jimbo) Wales wrote:

> Just to say my usual bit about this, I'm all for rewarding volunteers,
> and the best way to do that is with kind words, mutual respect, and
> admiration for good deeds.  Mathematical formulas can never replace
> taking the time to say "thank you" or "I am a fan of your work" when
> you see an article that you like.
>
> Algorithmic reputation systems are always a temptation, just because
> they are possible.  But human reputation systems are much more nuanced
> and powerful.
>
> --Jimbo
>
>
> -- 
> "La nèfle est un fruit." - first words of 50,000th article on 
> fr.wikipedia.org
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