The undemocracy of Wikipedia
Life is cutthroat. Pure democracy is impossible, especially when participants don’t know each other personally. Democracy on the Internet is a synonym for chaos—if you want proof, check out the shitfest of comments on my “Lindsay Lohan is fat” post.
Wikipedia, which started as an enterprise to collect human knowledge on the Internet via democratic, collective methods, is not democratic. It can’t be. It’s actually incredibly bureaucratic and filled with internal politics.
The point is made very well by Jason Scott in a long but interesting speech. I suggest at least a skim — there are lots of good points. I wish it were organized a bit better for reading rather than listening, but if you’re a frequent user of Wikipedia, you should know the things Jason’s talking about.
Speech available in text, PDF (for easier reading), or audio. (Via: Yeti)