[Wikipedia-l] Re: Sanger's memoirs

[Andrew Lih]

On 4/20/05, lmsanger at sbcglobal.net <lmsanger at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> 
> To Andrew Lih: Andrew, let me throw this back at you: who has ever proven 
> that all of the bulleted items *were* essential to the success of Wikipedia?
> Why assume without argument that they were? Making unwarranted assumptions 
> is the enemy of critical thinking and problem solving.


You were the one who wrote the memoir and put forth the assertions without 
supporting argument, and it's up to me to prove the negative? It seems the 
"critical thinking" lapse is not on my end. I simply asked you to elaborate 
on them, because they're contrary to current community norms that are quite 
widely attributed as the reasons for the project's success. 

My question is - are you familiar with Benkler's "Coase's Penguin" and his 
thoughts about peer production? Have you tried to compare your views on 
"anti-elitism" and "make special roles for experts from the very beginning" 
against current scholarship on the operation of open source projects and 
commons-based peer production? I'd be interested to hear your insight, 
because I do think you could add much to the field. And since you are in 
academia, and an important part of the history of Wikipedia, it is a natural 
extension of that area of scholarship. It would be great to see the next 
Slashdot or Kur5hin article be, "On commons-based peer production, by the 
co-founder of Wikipedia "

Despite the many Wikipedian villagers with torches and pitchforks running 
you out of town, I'd find it eminently more useful if you stayed and engaged 
in dialogue, on a whole range of issues:

* the socio-psychological rewards of participation, something I haven't seen 
addressed much in your writings
* jealousy/altruism factor in Microsoft's Encarta's recent "wiki-like" 
adaptation, which is more like Nupedia's model and has a regard for experts 
in the final review process
* the sifting process, which you were a part of, and has gained more 
momentum in recent months

-Andrew Lih (User:Fuzheado)