Wednesday, February 28, 2007
An addendum to Sunday's post
I had forgotten this comment by elian, part of her discussion on the differences between the German and English Wikipedias:
While it appears to me that the German Wikipedia has an important support system that the English language one lacks, it may be worth remembring another of elian's comments, "It's difficult to get hard data on this, but the thing I hear most often is: atmosphere on the English Wikipedia is much more relaxed and people are friendlier and politer. There are even a few users who left the German Wikipedia because of this reason and work only on en."
One person's heaven just may be another's hell.
Geoff
Technorati tag:wikipedia
The German Wikipedia has a geographical advantage here because it covers a smaller area than the English. I may be a bit exceptional, but I estimate that I've met at least 150 Wikipedians in person. Those 150 Wikipedians know others who know others... there is a rather close network of personal relationships among German Wikipedians (including, of course, the Wikipedians from Austria and Switzerland). This becomes especially important in case of conflicts: a good editor becoming wikistressed, deleting his userpage and quitting? He'll be flooded with emails and maybe a calm discussion with one of his friends on the phone will sort the problem out.
While it appears to me that the German Wikipedia has an important support system that the English language one lacks, it may be worth remembring another of elian's comments, "It's difficult to get hard data on this, but the thing I hear most often is: atmosphere on the English Wikipedia is much more relaxed and people are friendlier and politer. There are even a few users who left the German Wikipedia because of this reason and work only on en."
One person's heaven just may be another's hell.
Geoff
Technorati tag:wikipedia
Labels: wikipedia
