User:Kosebamse/thoughts

On common sense and the lack thereof
(from )

(...) Quickpolls add still more bureaucracy, and we already have way too much of that. People violate policies all the time, so what? Other people correct the damage done. Methinks we need fewer policies, not more (to be quite honest, three would be enough: Respect your fellow Wikipedians / Respect NPOV and the GFDL / When in doubt, apply common sense)

On encyclopedicness
(from )

(...) I would not look into an encyclopedia to find out a zip code. And I hereby propose a test of encyclopedicness: IF an average user has a question and would FIRST think of looking into an (traditional or other) encyclopedia for an answer (and not into a telephone directory, Google, textbook, dictionary, etc.), THEN the matter belongs into an encyclopedia. See also Unencyclopedic (...)

More on encyclopedicness
from here:

What's encyclopedic...
...is perhaps one of the most difficult questions that you can ask on Wikipedia, and it's mostly a sociologic rather than factual question. [...].

Why is it a sociologic question? Because the answer to the encyclopedicness question depends on who is asked. There are projects, such as traditional encyclopedias, where editorial boards and professional staff define what's going in and what's not. There are others, like the failed Nupedia and perhaps Citizendium, where hierarchical structures ensure that the qualification of editors is such that certain standards are upheld when it comes to inclusivity, as well as quality, questions. And there's Wikipedia, where the question of encyclopedicness has never been adequately defined, but rather left to popular opinion.

Wikipedia is a natural magnet for geekoid personalities with their likes and dislikes, and that has led to an enormous imbalance in favor of geekish interests. Computers, gadgets, video games, comics, hacks, sci-fi, you name it. You think that's not overly encyclopedic? So do many others, but it's incredibly hard to challenge that focus. Most everybody tends to be proud of their own achievements rather than those of the project as a whole. The result is that, as far as I know, there has never been a stated goal of universal quality standards or limitations of coverage. In fact, the question seems to be actively avoided by a majority of users, as well as by those who are generally in charge of the whole project. Rather, one tends to rely on precedence (e.g. that which is linked from WP:NOT), but all of it seems to rest on tradition (and on who shouts the loudest), rather than clear-cut definitions. [...]

On vanity
(from )

There are indeed several problems with vanity pages, of which I will mention a few: In view of all this, I think it might be best to get rid of these pages altogether. An alternative solution might be to create a separate namespace (or even a project of its own) for biographies, (auto- or other). Nobody expects to find independently-verified truth in an autobiography. If biographies presented themselves apart from the encyclopedia and it were made obvious what is autobiographical and what is not, the damage to Wikipedia's credibility could be mitigated.
 * Content. It is difficult to verify the content of pages such as Daniel C. Boyer or Florentin Smarandache. It is, however, safe to assume that they are biased. Even if there is independent information about little-known persons, it may take much time and work to find it.
 * Relevance. Enycyclopedia readers expect relevant content. Self-promotional pages are not likely to be relevant, perhaps with the exception of really important people whose views about themselves may be of some interest.
 * Authorship. That is the most serious problem here. No serious encyclopedia (scientific journal, publisher, etc) would allow its authors to glorify themselves in articles. I can't see why Wikipedia should. Methinks that such "articles" should be banned altogether.The very least that must be done is to make it policy that such pages contain warnings that they are autobiographic and should therefore be viewed as biased, and that they must be short and modest. Without a clear-cut policy about conflicts of interest, Wikipedia will not look credible to critical readers.
 * Intent. "Shameless self-promotion" - that seems to describe the thing very well. Wikipedia is not a showcase for personal vanities, and all attemps to use it as such are violations of the Wikipedia spirit.

Wikipedia's power structure
(from )

"...I don't believe that Wikipedia is an anarchy. I would rather say that there are many interwoven power structures and levels of hierarchy, some self-governed and some not so self-governed, most of which are not obvious to the casual visitor. If I had to pick one I would call it a meritocracy."

My law
From User:Raul654/Raul's laws:

Kosebamse's law - People of strong opinion are not banned or blocked for promoting strong opinions. Eventually, they are banned or blocked for violating social standards in the attempt to defend their views.
 * Corollary: The exoticness of an idea is inversely correlated to its proponent's respect for social norms.

On inclusionism
A precise diagnosis of one of Wikipedia's central problems is given in this mailing list post by Louis Kyu Won Ryu. To summarize it: "Inclusivity bias" and lack of community support discourage highly qualified and interested Wikipedians from improving poor articles.

Comment : The increasing dominance of irrelevant junk, unopposed bias, vanity content and unresolved (perhaps unresolvable) partisan wars in our database is distressing. And even in the few months that I have been here, I have felt that a decline in cultural values (openness, friendlyness, tolerance of criticism, NPOV, scientific standards) is going on. This is a slippery slope.

On POV pushers
Daniel Quinlan writes: "(...) An extended period of editing articles has convinced me that the NPOV policy does not work. Many articles at Wikipedia have evolved into agenda vehicles and Wikipedia lacks the will and the technology to allow neutral authors to effectively overrule vocal minorities pushing various agendas.  Since neutral editors must be just as vocal as those minorities, it just takes too much time to keep up with people who have more free time to bias Wikipedia, and it never ends.  There are many good articles at Wikipedia and great people, but I came here to support a project representative of general human knowledge, not this.  I suppose this will be a victory of sorts for some (...)"

Comment : Very true, and very sad. The extent to which bullies with an agenda are tolerated here is certainly one of Wikipedia's weakest points, and a danger to NPOV itself.

On common sense
Snowspinner writes:

"Wikipedia policy, or, at least, what exists of it in a codified fashion, is exceedingly well written, flexible, and, on some occasions, manages the rare feat of being funny as well. Unfortunately, codified Wikipedia policy changes at a speed that can generally be outstripped by a VW Bug in park.

There is a school of thought within Wikipedia that there exist policies that are not written down. I am a firm believer in this school of thought. The rules of Wikipedia are not a suicide pact, and attempts to slavishly follow the rules when one of the rules is to ignore all rules is an exercise in absurdism.

To put it another way, from IRC:

Raul654: oh, and snowspinner, I've come to a conclusion Raul654: making policy on wikipedia is hard Raul654: because there are people who oppose any common sense measures JamesF: Raul> Indeed. Snowspinner: Yes. I came to that conclusion as well. Raul654: I have decided that it's better to shoot first and ask questions later ;) Snowspinner: Cool. Snowspinner: I'm in that camp too now. Raul654: seriously Raul654: don't worry about making common sense policy Raul654: just do things with common sense Raul654: and wait for policy to catch up

Use common sense."

What Wikipedia is
Charles Matthews writes here: "[...] Pick your metaphor. WP is an oasis of relative sanity on the Web, which neither sells nor preaches.  WP is a hive, with a complex social scheme to produce free honey."

And in another post: "I would say that Wikipedia [...] has found its niche. [...] On the plus side: good at documenting factual things and gluing them into an intensely-hyperlinked and presentable, categorised form, miles ahead of the 'web directory' approach. Particularly strong at rehashing what is already out there to be googled, or in the mainstream media. Weaknesses: always been over-ambitious and searching for a style, rather than already possessed of one. To call WP's role a 'niche' is a bit like calling the Mariana Trench a shallow ditch, though. The Web contains things like 'shopping mall', 'personal webspace', 'blogosphere'. Wikipedia is the cuckoo in the nest of the 'wikisphere', certainly to the extent of redefining it."

More on common sense
From User:Mindspillage:

Because I've taken to ranting and raving about policy lately: The primary rule I go by is Use Common Sense. Which is a meta-rule that goes hand-in-hand with Don't be a dick and Ignore all rules, and supersedes all others. It goes with Assume good faith as it is written, which states that one should assume good faith "until bad faith makes itself known". It goes with Wikiquette and Civility, because common sense states that working with people will get better results than working against them. It balances No original research with Common knowledge. It tempers the Three-revert rule with discretion and good judgment. Use Common Sense governs all of these.

Written policy is good, particularly when it clarifies unwritten rules, making things more transparent. But the increasingly legalistic letter-of-the-law interpretations are disturbing. We are a community that exists to build an encyclopedia. Our primary purpose is to build that encyclopedia, and we cannot do it if the community is continually too busy sniping at each other and testing the rules to actually write articles. We cannot do it if we are so worried about possibly offending someone that contributors of proven good quality are driven off by trolls and POV-pushers. We cannot do it if new contributors are driven off by a Byzantine system of rules and made to feel like outsiders for not being intimately familiar with everything that has gone before. Use common sense.

Raul's laws of Wikipedia
User:Raul654/Raul's laws

The ultimate trump card
Fyslee writes here:

[...] I have repeatedly seen the following phrase used as a weapon by [..], who will not collaborate with editors who hold opposing POV, simply because he is convinced that he is right (and he may well be, but his attitude stinks....):


 * "NPOV policy trumps consensus."

Yes, but the nature of editing at Wikipedia means that an assumption of good faith involves collaborative editing. An editor who fails to collaborate, no matter how right and proper their edits are in relation to all policies, will not succeed. In practice,


 * "Collaboration trumps all other policies."

Without collaboration between editors of opposing POV nothing functions as intended, and Wikipedia policies won't work in an uncollaborative environment. [..]'s editing here is doomed to fail until he learns this. [...]

Observations of a wise man
User:Antandrus/observations on Wikipedia behavior