I love the idea of Wikipedia. A user generated encyclopedia, where
people decide what information needs to be addressed under each topic.
Theoretically, people who are well studied or professionals in a
particular field can contribute to a topic and make it a great resource
of information. However, I feel that the current Wikipedia is a complete
failure. Wikipedia’s failure can be summed in a single word: ‘accountability‘.
Because there is no accountability for what is written, people write about topics that they have no business writing about. Because there is no accountability for creating false information, people correct topics that they have no business correcting. And because of the lack of acknowledgement due to the lack of accountability, the people who actually do have the knowledge and ability to write informative, professionally and concise, don’t!
Here’s how I would fix it: Give credit to those who write, and penalize those that spam and those that create inaccurate or personally biased information.
I have seen several good contributors driven completely away from Wikipedia because their articles were mutilated, or some passerby thought their resources were spam. The articles that those authors had created or edited to a professional level, have since been reduced to garbage. I myself have downgraded to only removing spam links (which is a daily event) and no longer actively contribute content. When 10-year-olds question the whole concept, maybe it’s time to make some changes!
Because there is no accountability for what is written, people write about topics that they have no business writing about. Because there is no accountability for creating false information, people correct topics that they have no business correcting. And because of the lack of acknowledgement due to the lack of accountability, the people who actually do have the knowledge and ability to write informative, professionally and concise, don’t!
Here’s how I would fix it: Give credit to those who write, and penalize those that spam and those that create inaccurate or personally biased information.
I have seen several good contributors driven completely away from Wikipedia because their articles were mutilated, or some passerby thought their resources were spam. The articles that those authors had created or edited to a professional level, have since been reduced to garbage. I myself have downgraded to only removing spam links (which is a daily event) and no longer actively contribute content. When 10-year-olds question the whole concept, maybe it’s time to make some changes!
