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Hiya,<br>
<br>
There is eventually going to be a power struggle on Wikipedia. This
will occur because, in the process of enforcing MPOV, citations,
notability, etc., Wikipedia has created a power structure. It is no
longer a freely collaborative enterprise, but one now where a smallish
group of people (the moderators can make decisions that over-rule the
majority. This is a classic instance of a power structure, and makes
Wikipedia a tempting target for an organization large enough and
self-organized enough to effect the take-over.<br>
<br>
Wikipedia's only defense against this sort of action (and the Wikipedia
Art page is a first of a kind (though if one believes the deleters'
comments, not even that), not an anomaly) is to return to its
collaborative roots. It's nice that this particular attempt to subvert
the power structure is art. Subsequent attempts to control the
encyclopedia will not be so benign. It must be necessary for the users
of Wikipedia - that vast majority of people who for the most part only
make occasional edits, who are not insiders, and will be moved only by
egregious errors and omissions - to be able to over-rule the power
structure. If this does not happen, then when one of these actions
succeeds (as it inevitably will) we will have lost Wikipedia as a voice
of knowledge and reason forever.<br>
<br>
Since I don't exxpect the (current) Wikipedia elite to relinquish
power, this post is written for the record, so I can say "I told you
so" later on.<br>
<br>
-- Stephen<br>
<br>
<br>
Zbigniew Lukasiak wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:d36a60910902170813u47d1f88ft55865426d5356ce9@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 2:24 PM, <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:koltzenburg@w4w.net"><koltzenburg@w4w.net></a> wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Hi,
sounds interesting to me but I do not seem to find any page of that name,
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">An article appeared on Wikipedia -- called "Wikipedia Art" -- with the
following description:
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap="">would you mind posting the link?
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
It was deleted:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Wikipedia_Art">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Wikipedia_Art</a>
Now it all depends if they make enough noise that it be heard in main
stream media - then Wikipedia will have a real problem with it.
I do like the paradoxical nature of it and I do think it is a kind of
art - but if they let it bury so easily then I guess it really is 'not
notable'.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
---
Stephen Downes ~ Researcher ~ National Research Council Canada
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.downes.ca">http://www.downes.ca</a> ~ <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:stephen@downes.ca">stephen@downes.ca</a> ** Free Learning</pre>
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