Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Wikipedia's efforts to be legitimate

Am I the only one annoyed at all the "doesn't follow guidelines" notices on Wikipedia pages? It's clear they want to be a "real" encyclopedia, but I think they are losing the value I want from them in their efforts to do so. I'm been somewhat okay since I've usually seen only threats to delete pages.

Well, today I found a deleted one.

I do scientific research for a living. I get the idea of standards and all such whatnot.

Still, I want what Wikipedia was, not what it has become. There are alternatives, but it's an issue of fragmentation. Maybe a simple, consistent, persistent place for collaborative sharing on any topic is just an unsustainable and unrealistic thing.

I mean, really, I can decide if I trust references. Allowing sidelined expert comment on legitimacy might be okay, too, but their current strategy is directly impacting what value I can get from them.

I've finally contributed (financially) a bit to Wikipedia a couple of times in the past year or so, but I think I'm going to stop. They more often aren't what I want, and I'll just have to accept that I need to look elsewhere. If they can't afford to stay in business, I'll already have learned to survive without them.