Interview with a Wikipedian



Jimmy Wales, founder of our favorite online encyclopedia, recently gave an interview on Slashdot. His Wikipedia is a marvelous living illustration of our vision of "honest collaborative inquiry", and he exemplifies what can happen when you expect the best from people:

Basically what I think works in a wikis is to trust people to do the right thing, and trust them as much as you can possibly stand it, until it hurts your head and makes you scared for what they're going to break. Because that is what works. People are not fundamentally bad. It only takes the smallest of correctives to take care of that tiny minority that wants to disrupt the community.

I completely agree. We should optimize to promote good, and if done correctly that will organically prevent most (though not all) bad activity.

Posted: Fri - July 30, 2004 at 01:52 PM        

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