Wikipedia Sucks! (and so do its critics)
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The difficulties of Wikipedia Criticism

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The difficulties of Wikipedia Criticism Empty The difficulties of Wikipedia Criticism

Post by Soham321 Tue Feb 21, 2017 5:10 pm

One of the problems in running a WP criticism forum is as follows:

1. Wikipedia (WP) likes docile editors. They are easily manageable. Too much energy is not required to keep them in control. It is for this reason that people who are not docile tend to get weeded out. What about wikipedians who are not docile? These are either Admins, or former Admins, or very senior editors. These people probably started off editing WP at a time when the weeding out was not being done at the rate it exists today. Due to their present seniority, however, they have become 'unblockable'. For more on this see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Beeblebrox/The_unblockables

2. What happens to editors who are weeded out? Many may try socking. Many may walk away. A few will end up becoming WP critics.

3. Now the problem in running any forum with WP critics is that these guys are typically not docile. That is why they got weeded out by WP in the first place.

4. So you have a two-fold problem. You have few forum members, and the ones that are members are not docile.

5. Operating such a forum therefore is a challenge. Attempts to dominate or intimidate these people will not work. A 'light touch' will be required at all times. Admins in such forums need to adopt a 'hands off' policy.

6. What if a forum member posts something that the Admin believes breaks forum rules, and the forum member thinks does not? I believe in such a case the forum Admin can make a public post on the forum of the support staff of that forum. If the support staff supports the forum Admin, he can give the link to their post(s) to the forum member, and the forum member can continue to retain confidence in the forum Admin. If the support staff thinks the member's post need not be censored, the forum Admin need not worry about that post or similar posts.*

7. Editing or removing posts of a forum member in a systematic manner, without taking that forum member into confidence, is a surefire way of getting rid of that forum member. For a small forum, this is problematic. The loss of even a single editor in a WP critics forum is to be avoided because of the small user base. The vast majority of people who have been weeded out at WP would either sock on WP or walk away from WP rather than become WP critics. This is possibly because it is easier to walk away or sock than to become a genuine WP/WM critic.

8. In general, WP critics tend to be intelligent people, besides being non-docile. This makes them interesting.

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* This obviously will not apply if  the forum is hosted on the forum owner's personal website. But if such is the case, censorship should automatically be less. The only things which can reasonably be prohibited are:

1. Posting pornographic pictures or videos.
2. Posting pictures or videos depicting graphic violence.
3. Revealing personal information (street address, phone number, etc.) of anyone.
4. Wrongful Impersonation.
5. Spamming the forum in any way.

Soham321

Posts : 42
Join date : 2017-02-14

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