User:FastLizard4/Stereotypes

Quantity not Quality
An essay by FastLizard4 regarding stereotypes and their presence in Wikipedia's administration

Stereotypes. Wikipedia. Most would say that they are completely unrelated. I, on the other hand, find it everywhere. You may have noticed that a lot of things on Wikipedia often talk about how many edits you have made. Take a closer look, and you find the true problem with the current way Wikipedia is run: stereotypes.

I first thought about this when I applied for VandalProof. I was declined permission because I, quote, "...do not meet the minimum requirement of 250 edits to mainspace articles....". Then, when I asked an administrator about self-nominating for adminship and then looked at some previous RfA's, I noticed that a lot of things revolved around a good edit count. Many high-powered anti-vandal apps such as VandalProof and New Page Watcher (NPWatcher) require high edit counts to be approved. In the case of NPWatcher, a mainspace count of 500.

I, as a Wikipedian, find this completely unacceptable. These guidelines and policies reflect "Quantity over Quality". If I were running these, I would base the guidelines on a "Quality over Quantity" style of thinking, where you could make one edit to Wikipedia. If you rewrote an entire article in that one edit, I would approve you.

Now, I know that some of you are thinking that this could allow vandal accounts to sign up. If you were doing things this way, you would look at a sampling of that user's edits, check that user's block log, and maybe ask them a few questions, and base acceptance on that.

Now, from a logistical standpoint, if you didn't look at the stereotypes issue, the "Quality over Quantity" issue makes a lot more sense. A person could have made, say, 10,000 edits, but not have a great understanding of Wikipedia policy. Also, this would not discourage new users, who feel that they have a good understanding of Wikipedia policy, like me, from running for Adminship.

It takes a tremendous amount of time to build up a high edit count. At the time I'm writing this, I have a mainspace edit count of 95, which mainly comes from me reverting vandalism. It's good deeds like this that should affect whether or not you're accepted, not how many edits you have made.

It's time for change. We can do this. We need the change. You can ask people to change their ways. But, it ultimately falls to you. What are you going to do to solve the crisis? Thank you for your attention, it is much appreciated.
--FastLizard4 (Talk∫Other) 06:34, 1 August 2007 (UTC)