Comment Re:Moral Victory (Score 1) 630
The third, fourth, and fifth word on every Wikipedia page is "edit this page".
Nevermind the fact that the vast majority of the general public doesn't appreciate what a wiki is, people have been conditioned to *read* web pages. Even though "edit this page" appears all over the place, people aren't used to the idea of editing web content. Therefor they can't indirectly appreciate that the page they are reading was written by many people over time.
By a disclaimer, I'm talking about something more direct and like: "This page was written by several people (some of whom are anonymous) working together and could contain factual errors."
I get what you mean when you say that over-disclaiming on web pages is ridiculous but a wiki is not a traditional website. It's a dumping ground for text and can be easily vandalized. This seriously changes the rules of the game for readers and it should be pointed out to them in a *direct* way.
We can't just assume that everyone who reads Wikipedia will bother to figure out what a wiki is and appreciate the consequences.
Nevermind the fact that the vast majority of the general public doesn't appreciate what a wiki is, people have been conditioned to *read* web pages. Even though "edit this page" appears all over the place, people aren't used to the idea of editing web content. Therefor they can't indirectly appreciate that the page they are reading was written by many people over time.
By a disclaimer, I'm talking about something more direct and like: "This page was written by several people (some of whom are anonymous) working together and could contain factual errors."
I get what you mean when you say that over-disclaiming on web pages is ridiculous but a wiki is not a traditional website. It's a dumping ground for text and can be easily vandalized. This seriously changes the rules of the game for readers and it should be pointed out to them in a *direct* way.
We can't just assume that everyone who reads Wikipedia will bother to figure out what a wiki is and appreciate the consequences.
