Comment KKY7 Re: Ban: good. Name-and-shame: better.

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Wikipedia bans hundreds more paid editor accounts and deletes affected articles

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Ban: good. Name-and-shame: better. (Score: 2, Interesting)

by wootery@pipedot.org on 2015-09-02 16:39 (#K7NM)

I suspect they'll have better luck deterring this nonsense if they actively shame the companies who pay for/execute the biased bullshit.

They'll never win the cat-and-mouse if they just ban accounts.

Re: Ban: good. Name-and-shame: better. (Score: 1)

by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2015-09-02 21:54 (#K8JV)

It isn't just paid editing firms they have to worry about. Wikipedia's policies, in general, are entirely untenable, requiring overwhelming force of numbers that just can't be sustained.

Citizendium did a better job than I can, explaining why Wikipedia doesn't work:

* no coherent narrative
* disconnected grab-bags of factoids
* degraded by minor ill-judged tweaks
* intelligent laymen are often mistaken
* "squaters" always win
* blatant and shameless levels of bias
* Vandalism is a headache
* part anarchy, part mob rule
* disputes sometimes go on interminably
etc.
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Why_Citizendium%3F

Re: Ban: good. Name-and-shame: better. (Score: 1)

by wootery@pipedot.org on 2015-09-06 15:24 (#KKW7)

I get what they're saying, but here's a random topic I thought to compare:

http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/AK-47 (nope, HTTPS isn't available)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AK-47

Wikipedia's article is not only far more complete, it's also better written! The Citizendium article over-emphasises comparison against the M-16, and is openly biased in so doing:
The AK-74M fires the same ammunition, but is made of lighter and more rugged materials and features a side-folding stock.
But no mention is made of the advantages of the M-16.

Citizendium have some interesting ideas, but I really can't see them getting anywhere near Wikipedia.

More examples: there's no article (literally nothing) on OpenCL, for instance, or even CUDA! There's an article on the GPU, but it's absolutely laughable.
This would be fine if Citizendium were a newcomer, but at this stage, it's not.

Re: Ban: good. Name-and-shame: better. (Score: 1)

by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2015-09-06 15:51 (#KKY7)

No, Citizendium hasn't turned-out well. Whatever the reason... lack of publicity, early policy mistakes, second-mover disadvantage, etc., it's not going to challenge Wikipedia on equal terms. I do, however, whole-heartedly agree with their detailed tirade on why Wikipedia sucks, and firmly believe Wikipedia must either get saner policies or is going to implode and fall apart at some point.

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