Wiki 2

I got confused I guess, I thought the second wiki was for this weekend. Next week i'll catch up on all the posts and we'll be square.

-Right off the bat in Chapter 5, we learn who the first Wikipedia users were. I, for one, never knew nor ever really questioned who the first users and editors were. I always just assumed it was a group of knowledge nerds who made articles for self-indulgent reasons and had an "I'm smarter than you, so there!" kind of attitude. But in reality, "they came largely from the academic, scientific and information technology communities" and were professionals; real academics and scientists who had jobs as professors and scientists (114). That is awesome! They were originally working on a site called Nupedia "which required its authors to have academic accreditation" so naturally when they made the shift to the easier and more receptive wikipedia, they were able to post more and edit more because there was no hierarchy of admins and regulators. This is astonishing to think about, and a little ironic.

I first learned about Wikipedia when I was a senior in high school, 2005. Yes i guess that was a little late, but then again I attended a private school and most of our research was done in books only, they rarely if ever accepted internet sources so it wasn't until my bullshit senior year science class that we were allowed to look up things on the web and wikipedia was the first hit usually. In class our teacher said that Wikipedia is great for a quick reference look up but be VERY wary of its credibility considering anyone can post and change things from factually accurate to factually inaccurate just because they're being an asshole, and yes, my teacher actually said asshole. So what i find to be ironic is that this was about 4 years after Wikipedia really got off the ground and already the culture and posters had changed dramatically. If in the beginning it really was ripe with academics and scientists, how in four years time had it become so unreliable?

-On page 120, Dalby states that Esprit Fugace's, a French admin, obsession and addiction to Wikipedia was similar to an RPG addiction. The comparable addiction part is for me a stretch to make that comparison, however when he says that its the interaction of members of a community which is not only addicting, but similar to an RPG, that i buy. Everyone wants to be accepted and wanted...its part of human nature. "Fitting in" is the stereotypical challenge for all middle and high school students, and it simply continues onto adulthood and into old age. So when Dalby says "We the people of this virtual world" (120), he is forcing an acceptance of the users who spend hours editing and writing and creating Wiki posts, to all the other people who do the same thing. There is a commonality and a community which these people now belong too.

-A side note here, the way Dalby uses these online pseudonyms as comparable to first name basis with friends tells us a great deal about his feelings towards this online Wikipedia community. He feels as if he himself is a member and it feels almost-nature for him to discuss what a person named "The Cunctator", or simply as "141". To Dalby, these are people whom he feels a connection with because of the time he has spent reading about what they post and edit and comment on. I also have no doubt that he has contacted a few of the people in this book for more discussion on certain topics. These are friends...monikers personified to be real people.
So my gamer tag is Oscar Wiilde, and my internet gamer tag is Rraven. However I am not Oscar nor Rraven, I am Daniel Scheininger. Dalby treats the names like people. I understand that your online handle is anonymous on purpose, and yes, I understand that people who post under names like "141" almost have to be referred to exclusively as 141 because we know no other such name for that person; however his level of familiarity with these online handles seems a little excessive and a little obsessive. I know nothing about Dalby nor is what I am about to say accurate at all, but it seems as though he feels like these are his friends even though he has never met them. He falls into this familiarity with these names without a second thought which leads me to question how many real people friends he has not in the online community. He is expressing personally his first reason for "why we love it" first hand, that of a community where people feel welcomed and accepted. I know a few people who are stuck in MMORPG land, and its not pretty. While I am not judging Dalby, it certainly feels as if his connection to this online community is maybe stronger than many real world connections.

-In the personal biography pages, 148-154, Dalby makes an interesting point. Don't edit your own biography! That to me seems a little strange, however I understand why. You don't want to be bias like Joshua Gardner, a sex offender, nor Richard Worth, a minister of commerce and create or edit your biography to either flat out lie, or cast yourself in an unwavering positive light. This actually brings me to a real life issue: my father. Since you yourself may not even be reading this far, it is fair to say that no one will find it in here so i'll type it, but my father, Jeff, same last name, is somewhat of a politician, but that's not whats cool. What is cool is that in a few months time, my dad will be Chairman of the NJ State Chamber of Commerce. There are only 50 such people in this country and he will be one of them. He was also in charge of The NJ Health Care Reform Initiative which unfortunately got destroyed with the advent of "Obamacare". He does not have a wikipedia page, however when he was asked to run for State Senate which he declined, they said that he should get a wiki page up a.s.a.p. He is a Republic Politician in Union County, i forgot his exact title but he actually is elected to his office and his term is two years and he's been re-elected 3-4 times now. He asked me if I would make him a Wiki page and I said I wasn't sure if I could because taking his word for things without having cited sources wouldn't be very safe. Now, after reading this section, I am almost sure I don't want to do it for him; however who should write his biography if it isn't me or him? Because he needs one, newspapers call him for comments and have to ask personal questions about his professional career as well as his educational history all the time. So I guess i'm asking you who should make one?