User:Hydriotaphia/Views on Wikipedia


 * 1) One of the best rules I've learned here, if I've learned anything, is to be excessively, maybe even absurdly, polite. Why?
 * 2) Generally this allows a dispute to be about the substantive dispute, rather than about a personal conflict.
 * 3) If one of the parties is simply being irrational, it allows that fact to be easily and quickly seen by other editors.
 * 4) Wikipedia, it seems to me, has three prime resources. The first are "visitors": they know one or two things about a particular subject, add those things, and do not come back again (or come back very rarely). The second are "experts": they know a lot about a limited range of subjects, and contribute fairly often to articles within that subject. The third are "regulars": they act as a general correcting device, and, of the three resources, are the most valuable.
 * 5) The problem is that it is very easy for all three groups to become easy frustrated and want never to have anything to do with Wikipedia. Cranks, fanatics and jerks generally have a great deal more energy, as individuals, than individuals that belong to the three groups outlined above. It follows, therefore, that Wikipedia must as an institution ensure that its resources&mdash;collectively&mdash;have more power than its detractors (i.e., cranks, fanatics, jerks, etc.).