Wikipedia to Restrict Creation of Articles
cine writes "News.com reports that starting Monday Wikipedia will restrict the creation of new articles to members. Anonymous users will only be able to edit existing articles. This move comes after a controversial week for the free online encyclopedia" From the article: "Wales said the Seigenthaler article not only escaped the notice of this corps of watchdogs, but it also became a kind of needle in a haystack: The page remained unchanged for so long because it wasn't linked to from any other Wikipedia articles, depriving it of traffic that might have led to closer scrutiny."
I was never the first to post an article anyway.
Isn't the project predicated on the belief that more eyeballs make an article better, not worse?
No, it's predicated on the belief that an infinite number of trolls will eventually produce an objective authoritative reference work.
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
Here's the real problem with this episode:
1. Some jackass complains about something
2. People listen and decide they care.
3. Wikipedia is changed to suit the needs of the complainer.
The mistake was #2.
A more correct action:
2. Fix the article.
3. Issue an insincere apology.
4. Ignore subsequent whining by irrelevant jackasses.
5. Continue as before.
"Now, you - you see the word Wikipedia, so you think encyclopedia and you think "Oh, okay, this is valid, good information." But yet, if you look at what happened to John, that's not the case, [quoting Kyra Phillips, CNN interviewer].
Yeah, and some people see the words CNN and think, "okay, this is valid, good information."