WP Gang Banging : Why Such Negative Connotations For Women?, The Never-Ending Story : No Date Tonight Options Rating

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Define Gender Gap? Look Up Wikipedia's Contributor List

Noam Cohen • New York Times • 30 Jan 2011
In 10 short years, Wikipedia has accomplished some remarkable goals. More than 3.5 million articles in English? Done. More than 250 languages? Sure. …

[Jon Awbrey]

Ah, Milton, still livin' der Traum …

Jon (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/tongue.gif)

[Milton Roe]

Ah, Milton, still livin' der Traum …

Jon (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/tongue.gif)

No, it's quite real. You can read Britannica, but not nearly as much will stay with you as if you concentrate hard enough to EDIT Britannica. I've probably learned as much from editing WP part time these last 4 years, as from a year of college. It's probably been approximately the same amount of my time (though distributed completely in otherwise recreational holes in my schedule), and cost me no more than the time (zero tuition). Some people learn by watching, some by listening, some by doing. Some by writing; guess what sort I am?

Now, the opportunity-cost for this, was would I would have been doing otherwise. I could have been doing noble things like advancing human knowledge and writing papers and patents. The Ultimate Cat Litter Box ™ has yet to be invented. I could be volunteering as a T.A. at the local community college (wanna REALLY learn Newton's Laws?) Or I could have been vegging out in front of my TV watching Lie to Me and Bones.. Or I could have spent it scuba diving in the South Pacific, or other travel or social interaction with real people at home or near it, doing exercise, or something else to improve my life. It's all very nebulous, but if WP is an MMORPG, I'm pretty sure WP has been better for me than any OTHER MMORPG. It certainly beats hell out of Farmville.

[SB_Johnny]

Ah, Milton, still livin' der Traum …

Jon (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/tongue.gif)

No, it's quite real. You can read Britannica, but not nearly as much will stay with you as if you concentrate hard enough to EDIT Britannica. I've probably learned as much from editing WP part time these last 4 years, as from a year of college. It's probably been approximately the same amount of my time (though distributed completely in otherwise recreational holes in my schedule), and cost me no more than the time (zero tuition). Some people learn by watching, some by listening, some by doing. Some by writing; guess what sort I am?

Now, the opportunity-cost for this, was would I would have been doing otherwise. I could have been doing noble things like advancing human knowledge and writing papers and patents. The Ultimate Cat Litter Box ™ has yet to be invented. I could be volunteering as a T.A. at the local community college (wanna REALLY learn Newton's Laws?) Or I could have been vegging out in front of my TV watching Lie to Me and Bones.. Or I could have spent it scuba diving in the South Pacific, or other travel or social interaction with real people at home or near it, doing exercise, or something else to improve my life. It's all very nebulous, but if WP is an MMORPG, I'm pretty sure WP has been better for me than any OTHER MMORPG. It certainly beats hell out of Farmville.

I had pretty much the same outlook and same experience for a couple years, but then got sucked into the "high politics" of WMF and have had a hard time recapturing it since then.

[Milton Roe]

Ah, Milton, still livin' der Traum …

Jon (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/tongue.gif)

No, it's quite real. You can read Britannica, but not nearly as much will stay with you as if you concentrate hard enough to EDIT Britannica. I've probably learned as much from editing WP part time these last 4 years, as from a year of college. It's probably been approximately the same amount of my time (though distributed completely in otherwise recreational holes in my schedule), and cost me no more than the time (zero tuition). Some people learn by watching, some by listening, some by doing. Some by writing; guess what sort I am?

Now, the opportunity-cost for this, was would I would have been doing otherwise. I could have been doing noble things like advancing human knowledge and writing papers and patents. The Ultimate Cat Litter Box ™ has yet to be invented. I could be volunteering as a T.A. at the local community college (wanna REALLY learn Newton's Laws?) Or I could have been vegging out in front of my TV watching Lie to Me and Bones.. Or I could have spent it scuba diving in the South Pacific, or other travel or social interaction with real people at home or near it, doing exercise, or something else to improve my life. It's all very nebulous, but if WP is an MMORPG, I'm pretty sure WP has been better for me than any OTHER MMORPG. It certainly beats hell out of Farmville.

I had pretty much the same outlook and same experience for a couple years, but then got sucked into the "high politics" of WMF and have had a hard time recapturing it since then.

Try ignoring administration. It's always a good thing to do, when you see that people are administrating (giving orders) relative to that which they know absolutely nothing about. Again it's the authority of expertise vs. the authority of naked force. Unless you have a gun pointed at your head, or are being paid outrageously, whenever you meet that kind of "authority of force" situation, you just refuse to help people apply force. Of course they'll always sucker you in with horror tales of how, if you don't do it, they'll be forced to let snotnosed kids do it. But the truth is that they don't give a damn about the job except as it benefits them personally, and they're doing to allow kids to do some of it anyway, just as they did (and do) in Iraq. Don't be Pat Tillman. You don't have to go. It's not your patriotic duty.

There is a difference between administering WP and writing for it, which somehow I cannot get across on WR. The process is not the content. The idiots in charge are not the same thing as the encyclopedia content that is produced. It's quite possible to contribute to one with out enabling the other (at least very much). It's sort of like donating to a veteran's charity while opposing a war.