User:SwissCelt/Rant 2007 May

Rant of the Moment (25 May 2007)
I've decided to replace the list of info formerly found here with this rant. I'll be updating the Rant of the Moment on the precise timetable of "when I feel like it". I haven't decided yet if this and future RotM's will be archived. Maybe, maybe not. Anyway, the former list of info can be found at User:SwissCelt/Oldinfo and will not be updated.

Being a Wikipedian is largely thankless. If you become addicted to the site as I have become, you'll inevitably find yourself doing menial and repetitive tasks such as reverting vandalism or correcting minor (or gross) typographical and grammatical errors. Once upon a time, Wikipedians were rewarded for their tireless work with barnstars. Now, it seems, barnstars are really only rewarded when an administrator, bureaucrat, steward, or Wikia employee goes flouncing off the site, often leaving a mess in his or her wake. The sycophantic users left to clean up the mess then are ready with barnstars galore hoping the former Wikipedian will return to help with the cleanup he or she caused. Those of you who have first-hand knowledge of the Essjay controversy will know exactly what I mean here.

Meanwhile, as the number of users and articles climbs, and the sense of community inevitably decreases, Wikipedians are faced with a burden of maintenance that, to my eyes anyway, seems to be getting worse. I've arrived at the point that, when an article on my watchlist is edited by an anonymous user, I automatically check for vandalism. That's not assuming good faith, to be sure, but sadly I'm rarely surprised by a good or even constructive edit by such editors. We also seem to be at the point that articles aren't edited and corrected so much as they are reverted and assessed.

Assessment. Boy, is that a dumb idea! Instead of working to make articles better, let's just rank them as though they were contestants in a cheesy reality show. Assessment might have been a good idea by design, but in practice it's a race to slap a B-class or Start-class label on as many articles as one can possibly drive by. We can't be bothered to leave anything meaningful to help editors improve the article... oh, no! That would take vital time away from the mission of ensuring that all articles are assessed. Which means precisely nil, of course, if a large number of articles have assessment labels but no comments. But hey... far be it from this mere, non-sysop Wikipedian to question the almighty assessment project.

So, to close this bit of steam-venting, I suppose I should state for the record that I don't intend to flounce out of here as countless others more worthy than I have done. Of course, if you want to leave me a barnstar or two anyway, you're welcome to do so. I just am upset by what I see out there on Wikipedia, and thought maybe someone would want to know. If you are that someone, you have my heartfelt thanks for reading this rant. See you at the next article. -- SwissCelt 14:25, 25 May 2007 (UTC)