Comment Re:TFA on WP-Critical Site Critical of WP? Do tell (Score 1) 579
If your post is representative of Wikipedians' ability to read sources, Wikipedia is not destined for greatness.
Incidentally, since you mention it, gays are well represented on Wikipedia, I think. African-Americans on the other hand are poorly represented, and you can tell from some of the content in related topic areas. The hair straightener hoax described here for example probably wouldn't have succeeded if there weren't a dearth of Black editors.
What went wrong? There is an obvious, superficial answer in that Wikipedia empowers self-selecting cliques. Compare the coverage of female porn stars, where a page that went up first in 2004 has been edited over 3,000 times by more than a hundred volunteers determined to make it as copiously referenced as possible, with that of "Female writers" which has no quality control at all
So there are quite practical considerations underlying this which have little to do with social justice concerns. Greater diversity makes for better content in some areas. Hence the head scratching on the part of the Foundation about what it is that makes women stay away, and how to balance things out more.
"The one charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception a neccessity." - Oscar Wilde