Criticism of crowdsourcing
Consider that Wikipedia Review is now, according to a number of participants there, suffering from various problems of anonymous management and community composition (an influx of Wikipedia apologists). Now may be an opportune time to establish a new forum for discussion of similar matters as posed by Wikipedia Review, but with various improvements.
Let this page serve as a discussion place for this new possibility.
Founding principles
- The ownership and management of the new forum should all be self-identifying persons with legitimate biographies that map to real-world authenticity.
- Topical discussions need not be limited to Wikipedia. We can discuss all matter of social, political, commercial, and academic consequences of any of the following:
- Crowdsourcing
- Free licenses, the "Free culture movement" and copyright issues
- Wikis
- Section 230 considerations
- Anonymity and Privacy on the Internet
- Participants in the discussion may elect to do so from behind a pseudonymous cloak, but they will be advised that their opinions and status as participants shall carry less "cachet" (clout, gravitas, etc.) than those who self-identify and participate transparently.
Format
Which format would be most suitable for this new forum? Would it be possible to have both formats? If so, what would be more appropriate to have as the site's major format?
Message board
- Pros
- Fluid discussions between members
- More directly participative than a wiki, as each party may express their side without having to include the concepts already presented.
- Cons
- Derailment of threads
- Appears amateur
- More likely to cause conflict, especially between "problem" users
Wiki
- Pros
- Output is inherently more "polished" and "reasoned" than a message board
- The content is more immediately usable for journalists, academics and media professionals.
- Cons
- Discussion between parties gets lost in "consensus" of page
- Using the same format as that of the subject that one is trying to critic may not be a valid way of producing criticism, especially if the same core principles (ie NPOV, "consensus") are used. It's perhaps important to "think out the of box".
Name ideas
What might we call this site?
- Criticism of Crowdsourcing
- Wrongs of the Internet
- Rethinking Free Culture
- Wikipedia Analysis (attn: Wikipedia is copyrighted. Can we use this name? ) or WikiAnalysis
- WikiReader (Americans will remember the "Weekly Reader" from Grade school...although this might not work for an international audience)
One of the reasons that "The Wikipedia Review" has been so successful as a concept is that the name is precise, yet neutral. A successful name will most likely have a neutral, objective(perhaps scientific), element which will not necessarily be seen as being negative towards the subject. It is perhaps more effective to try to remain objective in our criticism, as to let the objective evidence speak for itself.
Reserved domain names
- WikipediaMustDie.com
- GregoryKohs.com
- MimboJimbo.com
- MyWikiBiz.com
