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By David Rothman

image Important Wikipedia-related issues arise in a Guardian essay.

What to do about a growth slowdown? Should Wikipedia just keep expanding or be more aggressive in zapping old or inferior items? And are editors too quick to change the work of noneditors?

Separately, citing a BusinessWeek article, Jeff Atwood at Coding Horror asks, “Are You a Digital Sharecropper?” and Wikipedia is among the cases mentioned, even though he’s really applying the actual term to for-profit companies such as Facebook. Wikipedia is nonprofit. But founder Jimmy Wales and others have started a for-profit called Wikia where writers will work for free.

image The TeleRead take: Some of the best Wikipedia items are freebies contributed by experts writing for the love of it. I myself can see a place in many instances for the free model.

That said, I wish it were possible for Wikipedia to credit contributors more prominently. Nothing like a little glory, eh? This is one reason why, when you contribute to TeleRead’s main area, we hotlink to your own site and publish your bio with your first submission. In addition you can use the same material on your own site.

 
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