[WikiEN-l] JoanB is DW

Thu Apr 17 12:05:45 UTC 2003

Stan Shebs wrote:
> Do people still believe that anonymous contribution is critical
> to success, or is it just an attitude left over from the startup
> days?

I think it is still important, but it isn't the anonymity so much as
the low barriers to entry, which includes anonymity as one component.

This is important not only to make it easy for more people to help us,
but also as one of our fundamental safeguards against bias, i.e. if
anyone accuses us of bias, then the thing for them to do is "Edit this
page".

"Real names" is a hard thing to enforce -- how could it be
implemented?  I check everyone's id before giving out a password?  Not
feasible.  We could require everyone to have a "real sounding name",
but that's pretty obviously pointless.

However, I am very sensitive to the concern that particular abusers
cause a lot of good people to waste a lot of valuable time.

--Jimbo