Wikipedia Task Force: Reader Conversion

[netmouse]

I have been selected to participate in the Wikipedia task force to increase contributions from readers and under-represented groups. In other words, to convert wikipedia readers to editors.

I have posted a few of my pet theories as to why people are discouraged from or disinterested in editing wikipedia on my wikipedia strategic planning user page. I welcome discussion there or here about why you or people you know choose not to edit wikipedia.

Comments

[matt-arnold.livejournal.com]

Notability is a cultural value judgment. Some subcultures are welcomed on wikipedia and considered notable while others are not. It feels arbitrary and unsafe.

I recommend you use "uncomfortable", "unwelcome", or "exclusionary" when that is what you mean. Over-use of "unsafe" frames a problem of etiquette and diplomacy as if it were a moralized issue of injury, and makes the statement hyperbolic.

People do not want to invest time in an article only to have it deleted because a band of young male editors don't appreciate it.

There is definitely a problem with 14-year old guys. This is why Metafilter is so great. The $5 one-time fee, and one week before being allowed to post or comment, is all the barrier to entry a community needs.

That having been said, I would still stop contributing if women or the elderly unjustifiably deleted my work. Sometimes I've posted to Metafilter and it was deleted for reasons that I understood better afterwards. But if it happened for reasons I disagreed with, I'd just stop attempting to contribute. Wikipedia needs standards that they can justify to a broad range of people. But there will always be a spectrum outside that range who will never contribute for this reason.

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the comments. I clarified my language a bit.

I do think that people feel injured when their work is destroyed. Not in a "moralized" sense, but simply in the sense of having experienced a loss and also perhaps an insult.

[bemused-leftist.livejournal.com]

It's certainly been a loss of time. As were apparently the comments I made here yesterday using Anonymous instead of logging in. There's an option for Disabling Anon if you don't want them, rather than letting them be added then never appear.

Well, to be charitable, maybe no one has had time to unscreen them yet?

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

I had read them, but failed to note that they were screened and required action. People very rarely make anonymous comments on this journal, so I've not built up a standard habit with regard to making sure they are unscreened. Sorry about that.

(Thanks for bringing it to my attention.)