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The Six Rotten Pillars of Wikipedia (view source)
Revision as of 14:57, 31 October 2008
, 14:57, 31 October 2008→HOSTILITY TO EXPERTS– THE CULT OF THE IGNORANT AMATEUR
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<Big>'''Official Teenage Mutant Wiki-Admin™ T-shirt'''</Big>
<Big>'''Official Teenage Mutant Wiki-Admin™ T-shirt'''</Big>
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== 5. EXPLOITATION OF THE ADDICTED AND MENTALLY ILL ==
Of all of the unseemly aspects that there are of Wikipedia, the most unattractive and morally repugnant of them all is the way that those with addictive personalities and/or mental illness are used to generate content and to police the website. One can readily see the addictive qualities of editing WP by clicking on the “contributions” link for any number of WP admins and other “power users”. The 24+ hour editing sprees and other signs of obsessive and compulsive editing are well known to the regulars here at Wikipedia Review. So too are many of their usernames, although there is no need in naming any here.
The culture on WP is such that obsessive and overblown devotion to the website is cause for signal praise, rather than cause for alarm. That is, as long as the user is deemed “constructive” and is also subservient to (or at least acquiescent to) the will of the applicable cabal that controls the matter or “articlespace” where they edit. Users award one another virtual [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Barnstars “barnstars”], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Ribbons “ribbons”], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Service_awards “medals”], along with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Awards other “awards”] for their “service to the wiki”. It appears that WP has developed even more awards than the old Soviet Union to honor its most politically correct devotees.
There is never any thought of flood control for a “constructive editor”, no matter how clearly obsessive they become. Not unless or until that editor has become unmutual, or simply too great an embarrassment, because of violations of policy (be they written or unwritten), in which case they are blocked or banned. Generally, one can either edit in an unlimited fashion (until they drop), or not all. Of course, has to be noted here that those editors who are better known, who have been deemed “constructive” and “productive” in the past, and who are admins or a friend of an admin (i.e., “power users”), are likely to be judged far more leniently as compared to less well known and less obsessive editors who have no friends in the WP power structure. To those “power users” with personality disorders or addictive personalities, this merely serves as an invitation to delve more deeply into pathological behavior; an invitation rarely, if ever, declined.
The exploitation of the addiction or mental illness of certain users has bad effects other than the deepening psychological harm to the afflicted user. It also has the affect of harming the reputation of WP, by giving the increasingly common impression that “the lunatics have taken over the asylum”. This in turn has prompted a number of actually constructive users to leave WP in disgust as they see the favoritism extended toward certain users who are clearly disturbed, and who also are clearly pushing an agenda, or have little idea what they are talking about. And when the afflicted user also happens to be an admin, the potential for abusive use of admin powers is very often realized. In essence, such admins are both victims and victimizers.
However, merely having an internet addiction or mental illness alone does not give a user an “inside track” to becoming a “power user”. If one is afflicted, but also expresses politically incorrect opinions or fails to show a proper eagerness to play the game, that user can quickly find themself isolated, if not blocked or banned. Also, I would ''never'' suggest as a reform that WP start to offer some sort counseling program to troubled users. The very thought of a psychological counseling program at WP is only very slightly less horrifying than [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/09/wikipedia_letters wiki-surgery].
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<Big>'''“Good Lord, dear! Bethlehem Hospital? I thought this was WMF Headquarters!”'''</Big>
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== Notes ==
== Notes ==
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