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I contribute to several wikis, including Commons, Afrikaans, wikispecies and wikiquote. Contributions tally, pages started.
While the articles have grown and matured, many lead paragraphs are still neglected. They are often too short or too long, and do not provide a summary of the article. Any new contributors may well dedicate themselves to these, and render a valuable service. The lead is a good place to describe the context of the subject, to give a perspective on how the topic fits into the larger picture.
Similarly, insufficient thought is given to the application of headers to separate the information into meaningful sections, or to reduce unwieldy lead paragraphs. A dearth of headers also essentially conceals the lack of information in, or the poor treatment of certain subsections.
The AFD, or articles for deletion, receives too little input. More votes should be cast to either keep or delete the articles nominated there.
A few articles from the web are referenced below, which may serve as indicators of wikipedia's successes or failings:
...and why its no substitute for wikipedia. Originally Everipedia mirrored (or forked from) wikipedia and consequently shared its hosting cost, but this has perhaps become less useful lately, when the Wikimedia Foundation's funding drives were more successful. Everipedia's potential value was perhaps in adding less notable topics, something wikipedia shouldn't strive for, but which some people would indeed like to see. In 2017, the "trickle of entries" however seemed to "relate almost exclusively to sensational topics". One may assume that many of the less sensational topics will not be updated, and the site may do better by limiting its scope. It has also been described as the "wikipedia for being wrong". [7]. In 2020 "best pages of the week", [8] include the likes of: PieDAO, Connext, dex.blue, Lily Mma: VoteCoin cryptocurrency, xDai Chain, Totle Swap, Idle (DeFi), EOSREX.IO, Centrifuge (DeFi), DeBank, Ethereum Name Service and P2P Validator. This doesn't resemble a general topic encyclopedia, but rather describes private ventures (and read like advertisements) where the writer is tightly involved with the topic – or is writing about him/herself essentially.
In 2018 Mr Larry Sanger proposed that Everipedia be empowered by blockchain technology, seen as a new avenue for those who want to move beyond what wikipedia can offer. Wikipedia co-founder’s 8,000-word essay on how to build a better Wikipedia Many questions can be asked however, concerning its rating/ranking feature, monetary nature and governance structure, for instance:
The proposed features sound like something as general and decentralized as the internet itself, and the way that it would refocus all the forking of functions and authority to provide something like an encyclopedia is unclear. The end result of the above isn't called an encyclopedia anyway, but "a peer-to-peer database", with share-holders. How a writer behaves outside a writer community, or whether he/she will receive any cooperation, is likewise unclear. One begins to see why the wikipedia model achieved its measure of success, namely by focusing its functions.
Google knol failed in 2011/2012 due to lack of organisation and maintenance, lack of ongoing support, product development or user-generated quality control. [10]. As importantly, it failed due to lack of focus. Its focus was neither on the topic or on cooperation. Consequently there was no need for authors to find consensus (agreement with co-authors), or if that failed, neutrality, which is part of the contribution ethic on wikipedia. The dynamic was lost. The result of consensus and neutrality is an article that self-corrects and achieves a measure of credibility. Infogalactic makes the knol mistake again, and perhaps compounds it. As one topic is split into various articles, one can ask where the follow-up user will go to update the topic? And how will his/her update affect the ratings. Verdict: Probably unworkable as it dilutes rather than focuses, and the result will be abandonment and outdated articles. See also: [11]
Wikipedia exists thanks to donations – the edits and media uploads of registered and unregistered users, and financial contributions by the public. For more information on how donations may be made, see: wikimedia:Home |
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I contribute to several wikis, including Commons, Afrikaans, wikispecies and wikiquote. Contributions tally, pages started.
While the articles have grown and matured, many lead paragraphs are still neglected. They are often too short or too long, and do not provide a summary of the article. Any new contributors may well dedicate themselves to these, and render a valuable service. The lead is a good place to describe the context of the subject, to give a perspective on how the topic fits into the larger picture.
Similarly, insufficient thought is given to the application of headers to separate the information into meaningful sections, or to reduce unwieldy lead paragraphs. A dearth of headers also essentially conceals the lack of information in, or the poor treatment of certain subsections.
The AFD, or articles for deletion, receives too little input. More votes should be cast to either keep or delete the articles nominated there.
A few articles from the web are referenced below, which may serve as indicators of wikipedia's successes or failings:
...and why its no substitute for wikipedia. Originally Everipedia mirrored (or forked from) wikipedia and consequently shared its hosting cost, but this has perhaps become less useful lately, when the Wikimedia Foundation's funding drives were more successful. Everipedia's potential value was perhaps in adding less notable topics, something wikipedia shouldn't strive for, but which some people would indeed like to see. In 2017, the "trickle of entries" however seemed to "relate almost exclusively to sensational topics". One may assume that many of the less sensational topics will not be updated, and the site may do better by limiting its scope. It has also been described as the "wikipedia for being wrong". [7]. In 2020 "best pages of the week", [8] include the likes of: PieDAO, Connext, dex.blue, Lily Mma: VoteCoin cryptocurrency, xDai Chain, Totle Swap, Idle (DeFi), EOSREX.IO, Centrifuge (DeFi), DeBank, Ethereum Name Service and P2P Validator. This doesn't resemble a general topic encyclopedia, but rather describes private ventures (and read like advertisements) where the writer is tightly involved with the topic – or is writing about him/herself essentially.
In 2018 Mr Larry Sanger proposed that Everipedia be empowered by blockchain technology, seen as a new avenue for those who want to move beyond what wikipedia can offer. Wikipedia co-founder’s 8,000-word essay on how to build a better Wikipedia Many questions can be asked however, concerning its rating/ranking feature, monetary nature and governance structure, for instance:
The proposed features sound like something as general and decentralized as the internet itself, and the way that it would refocus all the forking of functions and authority to provide something like an encyclopedia is unclear. The end result of the above isn't called an encyclopedia anyway, but "a peer-to-peer database", with share-holders. How a writer behaves outside a writer community, or whether he/she will receive any cooperation, is likewise unclear. One begins to see why the wikipedia model achieved its measure of success, namely by focusing its functions.
Google knol failed in 2011/2012 due to lack of organisation and maintenance, lack of ongoing support, product development or user-generated quality control. [10]. As importantly, it failed due to lack of focus. Its focus was neither on the topic or on cooperation. Consequently there was no need for authors to find consensus (agreement with co-authors), or if that failed, neutrality, which is part of the contribution ethic on wikipedia. The dynamic was lost. The result of consensus and neutrality is an article that self-corrects and achieves a measure of credibility. Infogalactic makes the knol mistake again, and perhaps compounds it. As one topic is split into various articles, one can ask where the follow-up user will go to update the topic? And how will his/her update affect the ratings. Verdict: Probably unworkable as it dilutes rather than focuses, and the result will be abandonment and outdated articles. See also: [11]
Wikipedia exists thanks to donations – the edits and media uploads of registered and unregistered users, and financial contributions by the public. For more information on how donations may be made, see: wikimedia:Home |