Summary:Talk:Task force/Wikipedia Quality/Enemies of quality

Starting point

FT2 suggested a list of "friends and enemies of quality" for brainstorming, categorized as:

1. Related to well-intentioned content editors

   • factors affecting skilled contributions,
   • stability/erosion,
   • capable editors with collaboration issues

2. Related to other editors

   • users who are ignorant about (or have their own view) what Wikipedia "should" be for.
   • Most contributors aren't experts (how to maximize the benefit of their work?).

3. Related to content consensus

   • Content battles never end (no way to get a final agreement), but equally too much fixity or finality would kill the ability of wikis to be self-correcting, fossilize consensus, and make topics into battles for "Wikipedia's official view".
   • The looked-for "meeting of minds" often doesn't work.
   • It can remove skilled as well as "fringe" views.
   • It's a lot of time, energy and work (Eg, rejustifying basic PhD knowledge to a lay-person)

4. Related to problem conduct

   • Tendentiousness is easy.
   • There are capable content users who are bad community members.
   • Some users learn to "play a game" and can enforce their view or wear out/exclude well intentioned users.

5. Related to conduct enforcement

   • Admin standards and expectations vary.
   • Admins role is to address bad behavior but they get attacked, so they only address obvious bad behavior... leaving it easy to engage in bad-but-not-egregious behavior.

6. Related to perception

   • Public perception matters. Readers and possible (and actual) editors may decide their trust levels and level of involvement (if any) based on public perceptions in circulation. So things that matter to the public perception should get a very high priority in mattering to us, even if technically other things might matter more in some ways. ("Expectation management").
   • Wikimedia isn't a "fad" any more, so it needs to work for its recognition and share of public time, against the "next big thing" out there.

7. Rerlated to wiki-cultural philosophy

   • Successful ventures reinvent or reorient themselves, and are not afraid to say "this direction doesn't work any more". We may need to do that on some old cherished beliefs, even if their foundational principles are valid.