[Wikimedia-l] Please, let's save the Wikipedia - from itself

[Josh Lim]

I think what we need to consider here is where the loyalties of many of these so-called "problematic" editors reside, whether their dedication to maintaining the content where their expertise has been valuable has been harmful to the overall health of the community.  While I think we are all on the side of Wikipedia here and we all have a genuine interest in improving the encyclopedia for everyone, we have gone to the point where we have started to perpetuate the idea that some are better at it than others, similar to that declaration in Animal Farmthat "all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others".

There are many reasons as to why this is the case, but I guess we need to reiterate the need for us to break down barriers here, both between ourselves as editors (step away from compartmentalizing ourselves into spaces where everyone else will agree with us because we are familiar with them), and between ourselves as people.  The latter, however, is very difficult to do, and it is one of the challenges that we have to face if we will want to assure Wikipedia's future success.

Regards,

Josh

 
JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
Block I1, AB Political Science
Major in Global Politics, Minor in Chinese Studies
Class of 2013, Ateneo de Manila University
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines

Trustee (2010-2013), Wikimedia Philippines
Member, Ateneo Debate Society
Member, The Assembly

jamesjoshualim at yahoo.com | +63 (927) 531-8301
Friendster/Facebook/Twitter: akiestar | Wikimedia: Sky Harbor
http://akira123323.livejournal.com



________________________________
 From: Rui Correia <correia.rui at gmail.com>
To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l at lists.wikimedia.org> 
Sent: Thursday, September 5, 2013 5:08 AM
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Please, let's save the Wikipedia - from itself
 

Greetings to All

Let me start by saying that I don't do much here at the WP, not compared to
people who make hundreds of edits a week. I would love to, have a long list
of "to-do", but unfortunately time is not on my side.

In my limited involvemet here, I have seen many a good editor leave the
project. Mostly, people leave because they can't take it anymore having to
fight the 'blocks' of defenders that coalesce around certain topics.

In itself, though not very healthy, such blocks forming around topis is
fine. What is not fine is that if any issue gets referred to a higher
process for a resolution, it is often the same people grouping of people
previously involved in disputes on the same topic who come to the
resolution forum to issue a decision. However, it is always the 'outsider'
that loses. He gets acused of everything under the sun, and gets 'good
advice' from supposedly neutral editors, urging him to calm down, to temper
his language etc. It is like trying to point out that the earth is round at
a monthly meetng of the fat-earthers. That is not healthy and is making the
WP processes look like a kangaroo court run by a cabal.

And I expect pretty much the same reaction to this email.

I pointed out in an ealier email to this list the difficulty that one
encounters when you include something negative about certain big
corporations. I was stoned and made to feel that I was wrong and everbody
else was right. The reaction was tantamount to a chorus of "yes, we know
there are problems, but don't say it out loud, someone might hear you!".

Let's for argument's say that I was wrong. But - more importantantly - was
anything done to investigate what I was saying? What if there are legions
out there paid to sanitise the pages of big corporations? And we know that
they exist, and that WP has taken up the issue as in here,
http://nick-xomba-ceo.xomba.com/microsoft_accused_of_paying_blogger_to_alter_wikipedia_articles

I made a silly remark on a Talk page about the choice of the word
"downgrade" to refer to people using Windows 8 who wanted to go back to XP.
For a failed product, by Microsoft's own admission, going back to XP is an
upgrade, going back to sanity, not a downgrade.

I was first accused of trolling, then something else, then of offending the
entire community of users of Windows 8. The editor who is adamant - not the
first time - to purge ant-MS from the talkpage violated the 3RR, but
nothing gets done about it. I reported the 3RR, and it was immediately
closed, labelled as being relatiatory. There is a backlog of issues on that
page, but my entry was closed within minutes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Edit_warring#User:Codename_Lisa_reported_by_User:Rui_Gabriel_Correia_.28Result:_Closed.29

It was closed, claiming that it was already being addressed elsewhere.

So, I too will consider my stay here. Like I said right at the top, I don't
do much here, so I am certain I will not even be missed. I edit in eight
languages, small little bits here and there. I participated in a number of
initiaves on the development of Chapters in Africa and am happy to see that
things are moving. I had the honour and privilege to meet Jimmy Wales in
South Africa and to discuss a few things relating to WP in Africa.

So, it is time to wind down anr retire into a corner. I am busy with a
novel, I am sure that is where I should invest my time and energy.

Sincere regards to all, happy editing

Rui Correia






-- 
_________________________
Rui Correia
Advocacy, Human Rights, Media and Language Work Consultant
Bridge to Angola - Angola Liaison Consultant

Mobile Number in South Africa +27 74 425 4186
Número de Telemóvel na África do Sul +27 74 425 4186
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