[Wikipedia-l] pitching an idea

[David Gerard]

Steve Lefevre (lefevre.10 at osu.edu) [050417 16:39]:

> I'm pitching an idea for a postmodern wikipedia. What I mean by that is 
> that there are multiple concurrent versions of an article. Instead of a 
> zero-sum game where only one text can inhabit a title at any time, a 
> user can choose from different branches. The user basis this decision on 
> who the authors are, and how many people agree with the text.
> The immediate wikipedia problems that this solves are:
> - Edit wars. This is common with articles covering controversial 
> topics, such as abortion. Proponents of different truths will build and 
> maintain their side of the story, including counter arguments, instead 
> of trying to destroy the other side. There is no negative sign-off, so 
> the only thing the article measures is how many people agree with it, 
> not how many disagree.


Multiple forks save edit wars, but I'm entirely unconvinced they're a good
thing for the reader. I think NPOV is Wikipedia's really startling and
useful innovation, on a par with attempting to write an encyclopedia by the
wiki process.


- d.