User:Dreftymac/EditNotes

Non-style related tips and philosophies on editing WP. (see also User:Dreftymac/StyleTips)

Assume Good Faith
A noteworthy principle, although I would rather frame it as a presumption rather than an assumption. In any event, this principle reminds me of a few things:
 * the road to hell is paved with good intentions
 * the movie Mars Attacks in which space aliens are depicted repeatedly saying "we come in peace! we are your friends!" while simulatneously drawing weapons and incinerating all humans within range of their pronouncements of friendship
 * trust, but verify

Battle of the experts
Many contributors to WP make a prominent note of their professional experience and expertise. It is considered that article quality is tremendously enhanced by the participation of known and widely recognized content experts. Although this has clear benefit, and is definitely advantageous in most respects, there are also pitfalls. One issue I have yet to see discussed is the fact that, many times, there is a subtle conflict of interest between maintaining one's credentialed status as an "expert," (on one hand) and giving away the substance of that expertise for free in the form of free edits and knowledge contributed to WP (on the other hand).

I would not be surprised to see more and more employers frowning on such free donations of 'knowledge' just as software firms frown on their employees making 'donations' of time to open source software projects. This subtle conflict would also reasonably be considered in the context of authors who sell their technical expertise in books, while also making contributions to projects like WP. How many times do prospective book buyers consider purchase of a book a more expensive substitute for discovering the same or similar content on sites like WP? As article quality increases over time, this sort of issue may become more prominent.

Some categories of knowledge are simply not amenable to adoption by non-experts through entries in an open encyclopedia. I would suspect, however, that there are some domains of expertise that are directly influenced by the relative ease and expense through which 'outsiders' can gain access to 'domain specific knowledge.'

It reminds me of an element of the story The Little Prince in which a self-taught astronomer discovers a new celestial body, but is ignored by the 'establishment' until he gives up his repeated attempts to prove his discovery, at which point the 'establishment' finally discovers (lastly from everyone else paying attention) what the self-taught man knew all along.

As they say, knowledge is power.