User:IMFromKathlene/Paper

When anyone references discussions based on the internet, the fact that people on the internet are allowed to act stupid and cruel almost always comes up. Anyone who's been a part of any discussion online has probably figured out on their own what the webcomic Penny Arcade calls “John Gabriel's General Internet Fuckwad Theory”, which postulates that “Normal Person + Anonymity + Audience = Total Fuckwad”. The vulgarity of this statement-- and the fact that it comes from the creators of one of the most widely read comics and blogs on the we-- really drives the point home. People on the internet are mean and this makes them counterproductive.

For this reason it is a little surprising that the web manages to produce anything at all, and the general perception that almost everyone on the internet is a troll is one that really needs to be questioned as soon as one figures out that websites like Wikipedia exist.

How Wikipedia Works

Wikipedia is, to begin with, a free online encyclopedia. In this way it does not vary at all from Britannica or any other similar site. However, Wikipedia allows anyone to edit its contents.

Wikipedia is a wiki, or a website that allows users to edit and create pages. There are wikis on an enormous variety of subjects, from Memory Alpha, a wiki dedicated to Star Trek to Wikichix, a community dedicated to discussing women-related issues on wikis. Wikipedia is one of a set of wikis run by the Wikimedia Foundation. While Wikipedia is the most well-known wiki, websites like Wikiquote, which documents famous quotations, Wikispecies, which catalogues species, and the Wikimedia Commons, which acts as a directory for original material from the works of Shakespeare to pictures for use in Wikipedia and other places.

Being open to edits effects Wikipedia in some interesting ways. For one, Wikipedia is extremely thorough. Its entry on Pac-Man catalogues the history of the video game franchise as well as all of its spin-offs and its effects on pop culture in a way that Encyclopedia Britannica never could. It also has extremely in-depth information about everything from obscure European soccer players to unusual monarchies.

It is not, as one might expect of a website that anyone is allowed to edit, merely a collection of vandalism and nonsense. In fact, it is superior to traditional encyclopedias both in the depth with which it covers its subjects and with how up-to-date it is. For example, in the day following Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s death there were hundreds of edits clarifying the details of his death as more information came in.

Having Wikipedia open for anyone to edit also makes it transparent. By clicking on the “history” tab of any page, one can see all of the previous versions of any article. People are able to add templates to the tops of page that say when their contents are disputed; interested users are able to go to the article's “talk page” and see where the conflict is. Similar templates also exist to note when articles are about current events that are likely to change or when the topic of the article is still somewhat speculated in order to keep the public from being misinformed in case Wikipedia's constant updating ends up providing any false information. Unlike traditional print media sources that only show the final draft, it is possible to see the discussion that lead up to the current version of a Wikipedia page. It is also possible to join in.

Why Wikipedia Works

With all of these people making edits there has to be some kind of editorial control and a set of rules. The rules for Wikipedia are somewhat extensive, but the way Wikipedia is set up makes it so that people are allowed to jump in and start editing without having read all of them. The first rule of Wikipedia is known as the “ Ignore all rules” rule. It states: “If a rule prevents you from improving or maintaining Wikipedia, ignore it.”

One of the other often cited guidelines of Wikipedia is “ be bold.” The “nutshell” description of this rule is “If you see something that can be improved, do not hesitate to do it yourself.”. “Be bold” is frequently used on talk pages and to talk to people who are new to Wikipedia; it is frequently referenced on article talk pages when suggestions are made.

These are the policies that make Wikipedia more open to contributors but there have to be policies to keep vandals away. Many Wikipedia pages have a picture of a lock in their top right-hand corner; this means that the page has been protected against edits (sometimes by any users but usually by new or anonymous users). These protected pages are sometimes controversial topics or they are sometimes ones that have been targeted by members of some community as something that Wikipedia users should vandalize. For example, in July of 2006, Stephen Colbert asked his audience to edit the Wikipedia page on elephants to say that the population of elephants has tripled in the past six months. This lead to a group of elephant-related pages (including the entry on Babar: “Babar the Elephant has tripled in popularity in the past six months.”) being closely watched by editors and semi-protected to prevent vandalism.

In addition to protecting pages, Wikipedia editors are able to add pages to their “watchlists”. A Wikipedian's “watchlist” is a page that catalogues all of the recent updates in the pages that they are watching. Controversial pages are frequently watched by more editors, increasing the likelihood that someone will notice if people start adding false information. Between the watchlists of individual editors and the “recent changes” page, almost all simple vandalism (replacing the entire Barack Obama entry with “Harry is the best!!” and similarly obvious vandalism) is corrected fairly quickly.

As you can see, Wikipedia has fairly sturdy systems in place both for encouraging new users to contribute and for keeping vandals in check. Wikipedia also has a set of behavioral guidelines that work to create a community of people helping each other create an encyclopedia in a way that is enjoyable and productive. The primary rule of the Wikipedia community is “ assume good faith”. The “nutshell” version of this rule is:

• Unless there is strong evidence to the contrary, assume that people who work on the project are trying to help it, not hurt it.
• If criticism is needed, discuss editors' actions, but it is never necessary or productive to accuse others of harmful motives.

This rule really encompasses what the Wikipedia community is striving toward being. Almost all of the other behavioral guidelines, particularly “don't bite the newcomers”, are related to “assume good faith”.

The other thing that seems to keep Wikipedian conflict from getting out of hand is a large variety of essays, both on Wikipedia and on Meta-Wiki, which hosts guidelines, policies and product coordination for all of the Wikimedia Foundation wikis. These essays are always labeled as the opinion of a single editor and they are frequently intended to be humorous.

One of the most popular essays, and the one most frequently cited, is “ No Angry Mastodons”. This essay states that “The fight-or-flight response developed by our pre-human ancestors may have helped them escape from angry mastodons, but it isn't constructive in an online encyclopedia.” It recommends editing while calm, on a full stomach, fully rested and sober. The “angry mastodons” are Wikipedians who are normally calm and sane but will occasionally do things they regret later by logging onto Wikipedia while in a less than peak state.

Another related popular essay is Meta-Wiki's “ Don't be a dick,” which says that if people would be nice to each other in the first place, wikis wouldn't need any other rules. A correlated humorous essay is “Please be a giant dick, so we can ban you,” which summarizes a lot of the imperfections in Wikipedia's system for banning people in its title.

Wikipedians are encouraged, through essays like “No Angry Mastodons” and support from the community of “ wikibreaks”, short periods of time in which the users are assumed to be away from Wikipedia, to take care of themselves before they take care of the Wikipedia project.

Wikipedia survives and manages to not fall to vandalism by creating a set of guidelines and policies that help foster community as well as the creation of quality content. It also has policies that encourage users to be forgiving of other people's mistakes and to apologize when they do something wrong. Wikipedians are encouraged to leave the computer for a while when they are finding themselves in a conflict that is hurtful to themselves or the project. They are also encouraged to have a sense of humor about the project, keeping them from being Angry Mastodons And if these policies stop working, it's not too hard to change them. Like on the articles, Wikipedia policies have the “edit” button on for anyone who wants to change them.