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A Third of Wikipedia Discussions Are Stuck in Forever Beefs (vice.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Wikipedia, the internet's encyclopedia, is run entirely by volunteers -- people who spend large swaths of their personal time making sure the information that hundreds of millions of people access every day stays accurate and up-to-date. Of those volunteers, 77 percent of Wikipedia articles are written by just one percent of Wikipedia editors. As such, tensions tend to get a little high, because these editors are often highly invested. They've been arguing about corn for nearly a decade, for example, and there's a long-running edit war about the meaning of neuroticism.
When editors disagree about an edit to be made on a Wikipedia article, they start by discussing it on the article's Talk page. When that doesn't result in a decision, they can open a Request for Comment (RfC). From there, any editor can choose a side or discuss the merits of whatever edit is up for discussion, and -- in theory -- come to an agreement. Or at least, some kind of decision about how to make the edit. But a new study by MIT researchers found that as many as one-third of RfC disputes go unresolved, often abandoned out of frustration or exhaustion. The most common sticking points were chalked up to inexperience, inattention from experience editors, and just plain petty bickering.
When editors disagree about an edit to be made on a Wikipedia article, they start by discussing it on the article's Talk page. When that doesn't result in a decision, they can open a Request for Comment (RfC). From there, any editor can choose a side or discuss the merits of whatever edit is up for discussion, and -- in theory -- come to an agreement. Or at least, some kind of decision about how to make the edit. But a new study by MIT researchers found that as many as one-third of RfC disputes go unresolved, often abandoned out of frustration or exhaustion. The most common sticking points were chalked up to inexperience, inattention from experience editors, and just plain petty bickering.
This. The "original research" policy really screws with things when the source says X = Y and some 2nd party source says X = Z due to a failure to comprehend the subject matter. A bunch of people will have ripped off that 2nd party so there will be endless sources of bad information.
Also, don't try to delete your account. They own your identity & your contributions forever.
If you look at Wikipedia’s admin history, most admins were elected over 10 years ago. This provides a substanial old guard that locks out newer viewpoints. What we need is a new generaton of edtiors who arent revert happy and allows more articles about Women in science. I notice that Wikipedia is very deletionist now days especially after they restricted article creation to autoconfirmed accounts. Remember to repay the favor and be deletionist with your donation money.
What drove me away from editing?
Being blocked by an administrator for the "crime" of reporting that a permanently banned user was editing again. Although I was eventually unblocked, there was no apology, no acknowledgement that my block was wrong.
Then, on top of that, some time later, I saw that same administrator being protected in an arbitration proceeding through shenanigans by other administrators (the arbitration proceeding against him was consolidated with a much more contentious and unrelated arbitration, leading to the arbitration against him being dropped).
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
"They" have been arguing about corn for a decade. As in, some agree and some don't that the title should be "maize" since "corn" has other meanings in some countries. TFS seems to think that the ultimate goal is 100% agreement. That's not the point of Wikipedia. It's not perfect, and it cannot be because people have different preferences. Is it a valuable resource available to all? Yes.
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