ten years of edit wars
Apparently today is the tenth birthday of Wikipedia. I'm a huge fan of the encyclopedia from user perspective, although as a potential editor I do tend to take exception with how the most vocal and active participants choose to run the place. I was going to expand on these themes in this evening's post until I read The Economist's take on the anniversary; the author says the same things I would except with the authority of a 170 year old publication behind him. So go read that.
As an aside, I'll note that I spent some time this past week looking back over the articles that I wrote way back in the day, and I was surprised to see how little they've been updated since then. That means that not only am I responsible for the majority of the text in, for example, the encyclopedia's piece on the Dirty Dozen Brass Band (a fairly notable group), but that my words have been copied in countless places all over the internet. Not bad for an article that "needs additional citations for verification." I have half a mind to just let them know that the whole thing was original research on my part and should be removed. But I won't, because it's just too well written.
Happy Birthday, Wikipedia