This is an old revision of this page, as edited by EdwardsBot (talk | contribs) at 16:35, 9 November 2010 (→The Signpost: 8 November 2010: new section). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 16:35, 9 November 2010 by EdwardsBot (talk | contribs) (→The Signpost: 8 November 2010: new section)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
| |
| archives 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 |
If I left a post on your talk page...
Please answer there. I'll see it, no worries.
Are you here because I deleted your article?
Please read through this first to find out why.
plagiarism, socks, COI and arbcom
en.WP is awash in plagiarized content. I very often look things up on Misplaced Pages (say at least 100 times a month) with no thought as to editing or doing an admin task. If I dig into the sources, which I tend to do, given I see an encyclopedia only as a way to begin looking into something, I find text swiped word for word from sources both cited and uncited at least a third of the time, maybe more. It has been this way since I first stumbled onto Misplaced Pages years ago. If I were to fix all the plagiarism I find, I'd be spending most of my waking life editing en.WP. So, I only skive plagiarism when I've come to build an article. More often than not, I wind up rewriting and resourcing more or less everything. It's that bad here.
The notion that sourced content cannot be written without straying into OR is mistaken. However, doing so is a skill and takes time, either one of which may be lacking in some volunteer editors. As I've said before, en.WP's draw for many is not so much the encyclopedia building, but a kind of text-driven, interactive adventure and social networking game like a sprawling MUD, with an outlet for sharing what some call "knowledge" with thousands, even millions of others. There are so many and sundry things one can do, it can be addictive and fun and moreover, it's free.
The site is also awash in sockpuppets. Some editors would be startled to know who is behind some of them.
Without COI, Misplaced Pages would grind to a halt within hours. Mixed with all the systemic bias and sockpuppetry, most high traffic articles wind up carrying all kinds of flaws as to content and weight, as do most news articles, many published books and even peer reviewed academic journals of all stripes. One does what one can, on en.WP and off.
Arbcom membership is a thankless task. It should never handle any but the most daunting snares and these are far and few between. Arbcom members are elected not for their arbitration skills, but one way or another, for not having peeved many other editors. By far and away, most IP editors are helpful, most user accounts stir up more help than harm, most editors who can't get along at first either learn or leave rather than being tossed out by block and as a percentage, the number of sitebanned users is vanishingly small.
None of this is much of a scandal, it's something to think about when wondering what to do with one's volunteer time. Gwen Gale (talk) 11:21, 8 November 2010 (UTC)
The Signpost: 8 November 2010
- News and notes: Second Wikipedian in Residence, {{citation needed}} for sanity
- WikiProject report: WikiProject California
- Features and admins: No, not science fiction—real science
- Election report: The countdown begins
- Arbitration report: No cases this week; Date delinking sanctions reduced for one party; History ban extended
- Technology report: Bugs, Repairs, and Internal Operational News