User:つがる/November 2020 Interview

• Do you think Wikipedia will ever be 'completed'?

  As much as a classical encyclopedia is "completed" when printed in books, in the best case. And then the next election happens, and "president of [Country]" is suddenly an outdated description. Wikipedia's main strength is the community's ability to adapt to unforeseen situations; a book can't do so. Wikipedia's main weakness is a fundamental vulnerability to vandalism that is, in most cases, displayed to readers without editorial oversight. Any encyclopedia, regardless of its nature, will always be incomplete if the goal is to create an exhaustive collection of knowledge.

• What would you do, if Wikipedia wasn't free?

  In terms of money? The project would quickly perish without those who don't donate money. Wikipedia's most important readers pay by error correction and article creation instead of their credit card.

  Choosing the more interesting horror scenario, I'll assume that "free" refers to the content license. Most people probably don't care; perhaps I wouldn't do so either if I hadn't grown up with a free encyclopedia. A free license is by no means a requirement for providing a collaborative website. However: Having the copyright in the hands of the contributors instead of a central corporation prevents abuse of power, which might be one of the main reasons why Wikipedia grew in the first place. It attracted enthusiasts from all over the world. So I'd say if Wikipedia wasn't free, we both would not be here. Not because we chose the encyclopedia for its license, but because others did so many years before us.

• Do you think Wikipedia is Censored, because the government fears it?

  Wikipedia is hosted in the United States, and its resistance against censorship strongly relies on US laws. Wikipedia is currently not censored, but the community needs to fear every attempt to change these laws.

• Following up on the question, China censors Wikipedia. Do you think this is a factor of fear?

  Ah, I misunderstood the previous question. Well, only informed citizens can protest about what they have learned on Wikipedia. Uninformed citizens remain silent.

  Strict control of access to information is critical to the existence of most non-democratic governments and their associated control systems and security apparatus.
  — Freedom of the press: Non-democratic states

  That's pretty much it. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 04:10, 22 November 2020 (UTC)