A Wiki Death

So the guy that saved Slate's The Fray wiki entry (after a lengthy votes for deletion) has been shitcanned from his admin job at Wiki, looks like he lied about being a professor of religion, of all things.

I won't speak of Essjay in particular, as I know very little of him and his abilities, but the point is more about the growth of good things and how administration and bureaucracy eventually catch up to claim the life of good things everywhere.

Wikipedia is a good example. Good concept, certainly, and in theory, with all people participating in good faith, the thing is gold. But once the iodiots got a foothold, which was inevitable and should have been planned for from the start, rules had to be set to control contributions. Soon, the bureaucracy of keeping track of certified contributors will overhelm the good thing and it will be nothing more than a collection of wiki entries few visit for anything other than rubbernecking the tragedy of Wikipedia, call it rubberwiking, if you will.

Anyways, it is too bad. I have often used Wikipedia for general interest reading and basic reference, knowing it has a poor reputation as a scholarly resource (at best) and not really needing it for this purpose. This leads one to wonder how long it will be before MySpace or Craigslist meet the same fate, longer for sure only because on those sites "viewer beware" reigns supreme and there is little in the way of content review.

Best of luck to Jimmy Wales and the honest folk at Wikipedia. It has limitless potential, let us hope that common sense prevails and it keeps its dignity and its charm.