[Campaigns-l] delete me

[Stephen Abbott]

Jimbo:
On the other hand, I can certainly sympathize with someone who may hear this
comment of yours and simply not buy into the program of wading through
literally millions of words in endless debates over the next few years to
determine the simple question: "So, dude, what's this wiki all about,
exactly?" That, at least, could be defined, and specifically.

It does seem like something that should be easy to spell out, rather than
letting the next 50,000 visitors figure out on their own (see my previous
comments for why that's not a good plan.)

I can't imagine a business opening its doors without at least a rudimentary
business plan defining WHO they are and WHAT they are in business to do. A
business owner who opened an empty storefront and asked whoever wanders in,
"What should we sell? Pizza? Mens clothes? Computers? Lawn mowers? And how
should we decorate the store?" would be seen as kind of crazy. Why is this
acceptable on the Internet?

Someone may be tempted at this point to say "but democracy is *messy*
sometimes." True. But as I said before, without some bare parameters, this
is an experiment in anarchy, not democracy. Wikipedia is specifically said
to be NOT an experiment in anarchy. Is this, too?

I don't say this to hurt you, or anyone who helped you put this together,
but the newly launched http://www.moreperfect.org seems eminently better
organized and has a clear mission, simple rules and, so far, a good
organizational scheme. It doesn't have the same mission, but is a model
worth following.

- Stephen A.
(This isn't "performance art" is it? Just grasping at straws, here.)



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jimmy Wales" <jwales at wikia.com>
To: <campaigns-l at wikia.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 09, 2006 11:16 PM
Subject: Re: [Campaigns-l] delete me


> Michael Reitz wrote:
> > I am  much too simple minded for this discussion, all about process and
> >  nothing inspiring. We talk as the world burns. Please alow me to to
> > touch people as I now wish to depart wikia..
>
> Well, I understand your frustration, but if we want to build something
> different, we need to talk about process, and we need to start with some
> boring grunt work.  I would expect that this site is going to be a lot
> of fun for the first couple of years, and then a lot of fun plus
> starting to have a major major impact after that.
>
> First, we build a foundation.
>
> --Jimbo
>


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