Fred Bauder, I like black people but ... Options

[tarantino]

In response to the question "Why American Wikimedian community is exclusively white?" on the mailing list, Fred says:

The short answer: Wikipedia editors are volunteers and African-Americans
rarely volunteer.

The medium answer: African-American editors often edit only articles
which relate to African-American and do that in a point of view way.

The long answer: large blocks of African-American are oppressed,
unemployed, poorly educated, and computer illiterate. Those that are
educated and prosperous tend to be too busy, and as said, are not in the
habit of volunteering.

"Wow. Maybe you can follow Phoebe's example and cite some evidence?"

A reaction like this is expected to any honest straightforward
observation that is not politically correct. I lived in the Five Points
neighborhood of Denver for yeara. I like Black people, but there are
issues.

[Milton Roe]

In response to the question "Why American Wikimedian community is exclusively white?" on the mailing list, Fred says:

The short answer: Wikipedia editors are volunteers and African-Americans
rarely volunteer.

The medium answer: African-American editors often edit only articles
which relate to African-American and do that in a point of view way.

The long answer: large blocks of African-American are oppressed,
unemployed, poorly educated, and computer illiterate. Those that are
educated and prosperous tend to be too busy, and as said, are not in the
habit of volunteering.

"Wow. Maybe you can follow Phoebe's example and cite some evidence?"

A reaction like this is expected to any honest straightforward
observation that is not politically correct. I lived in the Five Points
neighborhood of Denver for yeara. I like Black people, but there are
issues.

What Fred should have done: just cite evidence.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/volun.nr0.htm

[Abd]

What Fred should have done: just cite evidence.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/volun.nr0.htm

Problem is, the evidence doesn't support his answer.

Among the major race and ethnicity groups, whites continued to volunteer at a
higher rate (28.3 percent) than did blacks (20.2 percent), Asians (19.0 per-
cent), and Hispanics (14.7 percent). Of these groups, the volunteer rate of
blacks and whites rose in 2009. Among blacks it rose by 1.1 percentage points,
driven by an increase in the volunteer rate of black women.

That thing about "blacks don't volunteer" simply is not true. There is a reduced rate, in general, but editing Wikipedia is an activity that is common for youth, and, indeed, there may be a higher percentage of unemployed editing Wikipedia -- or unemployable! It's the kind of activity that one, if inclined, can fit into spare time, at one's own convenience.

Not that it necessarily stays that way once one is hooked.

No, I think the answer isn't so simple. And I have no idea what the racial balance of Wikipedia editors is. I'll say that I don't remember seeing anyone who "looked black" at WikiConference New York. Given how many people were there, there is something odd about that.

Maybe black people are smarter than white people. Culturally, of course!

(I.e., "black" is a cultural identity, strongly associated with cultural background in some contexts, such as American society, and very sloppily. Culture might make people quicker to recognize a scam and avoid it, whereas us white boys just fall right into it, drinking the free Kool-Aid, happily believing in the dream and free pizza. For a while, until it becomes entirely too obvious. Most of my friends, if I talk about the reality of Wikipedia, say, "What made you think it would be any different? Why did you bother?" Women, especially, I'd say, in my experience, think it's totally insane to engage with a bunch of disagreeable jerks. Why?)

(I come up with some feeble answers, like, "Because it's there." "I couldn't know for sure until I tried." But the reality is probably darker.)