If you owned Wikipedia, what would you do with it Options

[Peter Damian]

Picking up on something Eva said here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Iri...12#Wikipedia_II which has affinities with some of the stuff what was discussed here http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?s=&sh...ndpost&p=267006

[radek]

Picking up on something Eva said here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Iri...12#Wikipedia_II which has affinities with some of the stuff what was discussed here http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?s=&sh...ndpost&p=267006

Also I'd perma ban any grad students from editing the damn thing, especially in the topics they're studying (especially History and English lit). Finish your damn degrees first! As Pascal or Pasteur or one of those French guys said, "A little knowledge takes you away from God, a lot of knowledge takes you closer". Substitute your favorite aim for "God" into that, but the basic problem of arrogant hubris is the same.

[Kelly Martin]

Also I'd perma ban any grad students from editing the damn thing, especially in the topics they're studying (especially History and English lit). Finish your damn degrees first! As Pascal or Pasteur or one of those French guys said, "A little knowledge takes you away from God, a lot of knowledge takes you closer". Substitute your favorite aim for "God" into that, but the basic problem of arrogant hubris is the same.

The grad students aren't even close to the problem; it's the undergrads and high school students and tech school students writing articles from their lecture notes about a topic that they absolutely do not understand that are the real problem. There's lots and lots of articles like this in Wikipedia, especially on engineering, medical technology, and computing topics. It's incredibly easy to spot articles like this.

[radek]

Also I'd perma ban any grad students from editing the damn thing, especially in the topics they're studying (especially History and English lit). Finish your damn degrees first! As Pascal or Pasteur or one of those French guys said, "A little knowledge takes you away from God, a lot of knowledge takes you closer". Substitute your favorite aim for "God" into that, but the basic problem of arrogant hubris is the same.

The grad students aren't even close to the problem; it's the undergrads and high school students and tech school students writing articles from their lecture notes about a topic that they absolutely do not understand that are the real problem. There's lots and lots of articles like this in Wikipedia, especially on engineering, medical technology, and computing topics. It's incredibly easy to spot articles like this.

Sure, but the difference is that these kids often do have an idea as to the limits of their knowledge and when confronted with sources they back down (and as long as the topic is general they're often actually not too bad). On the other hand it's usually the grad students and the like who think they know all about everything and can just go into an article and awe everyone with their brilliance. Again, it's more of a question of hubris rather than actual knowledge - or if you'd like, the Socratian "don't know but think they know" vs. "know that they don't know".

The ratio of "things they think they know" to "things they actually know" probably peaks in grad school - though of course the denominator is large as compared to "the undergrads and high school students". To the extent these folks have some serious problems with ownership and accommodating views which are different from their own... well, that's how we get the Ottavas and the like.

[Kelly Martin]

The ratio of "things they think they know" to "things they actually know" probably peaks in grad school - though of course the denominator is large as compared to "the undergrads and high school students". To the extent these folks have some serious problems with ownership and accommodating views which are different from their own... well, that's how we get the Ottavas and the like.

That's not representative of grad students, or even grad students who edit Wikipedia, although it certainly is representative of Ottavas. I have no problem with banning all Ottavas from any and all internet ventures.

[radek]

The ratio of "things they think they know" to "things they actually know" probably peaks in grad school - though of course the denominator is large as compared to "the undergrads and high school students". To the extent these folks have some serious problems with ownership and accommodating views which are different from their own... well, that's how we get the Ottavas and the like.

That's not representative of grad students, or even grad students who edit Wikipedia, although it certainly is representative of Ottavas. I have no problem with banning all Ottavas from any and all internet ventures.

Hmmm, maybe it varies by area and our experiences are different in that regard.

Also, if I was a dictator, I'd make a {{POV}} tag the default for all articles everywhere in the interest of full disclosure, to be removed only after it's been thoroughly combed over several times. Better to admit you're imperfect than to misrepresent yourself.