User:Interactive Spectator

My username only seems an oxymoron. Only rarely will I get involved, choosing to be a spectator most of the time, seeing no sense in doing more. I view the long term future of Wikipedia with great pessimism, because we're looking at a system which empowers people in direct proportion to the amount of time they have to waste on behind the scenes politics, revert wars and haggling, as if the truth were something one found through negotiation instead of through examination and reason - as if we were in a high school in which the students had been put in charge. But, for today, perhaps we can get something done, and point people in the direction of resources which they can link to, before Mr.Wales' conceptual house of cards comes crashing down on us all.

I care enough to make an effort, but I don't care enough to make a supreme effort. As I log in, I see a number of articles on a number of topics, especially some of those about Chicago which, if you'll pardon my bluntness, I've passed around at parties, knowing that the laughter would keep going for a half hour at the very least. In theory, as a native of Chicago with deep family roots here, I should go in and correct those, this being the standard advice given to anybody who says that the quality of a Wikipedia article is low. I'm not going to do that, because I can read the history pages and see the infighting and revert wars that have already happened over there. No - thank - you, not interested. Likewise for any articles about religion or politics.

I'll make my infrequent corrections, and if the other editors accept this and they stick, cool. If they don't accept this, but somebody has my back, so those corrections stick, anyway - even cooler, in a way. But I'm not going to haggle or waste my time on revert wars. If we're looking at a major investment of time just to make minor changes as warranted by the facts, just so that some product of self-esteem based education can feel validated, I'm not going to bother, because the end result really doesn't matter that much. It's only Wikipedia.

Anybody who wants real, solid information can go read a book.