Wikitorial redux
: The LA Times wikitorial says it is “closed” now and I see no way to get in to see the latest version or the history. No explanation: Just closed.
Hope I didn’t help break it. I said that having both sides of an issue fight it out over the same text just wouldn’t work in a wiki. Wikis are about collaboration; you may disagree with your fellows but the mutual goal is clear. A wikitorial is bound to turn into a tug-of-war.
So I suggested in a listserv discussion of it that there should be two wiki versions of the editorial: one for proponents of the editorial’s stand, one for opponents; let them put their best stuff forward and may the best side win. It seemed to be that this would be like an Oxford debate, brought to software.
Wikigod Jimbo Wales replied in the listserv on Friday: “I changed it to this earlier today. I’m not sure the LA Times wants me setting policy for their site, but it is a wiki after all, and what was there made no sense.”
I went today to see what was happening and find it closed. Drat.
: See Tim Windsor’s link in the comments explaining what happened.
: See Chris Anderson’s reassessment of the experiment.
