User:Kosebamse/Wikipedia is not a sentient being
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This is an essay. It is not a policy or guideline, it simply reflects some opinions of its authors. Please update the page as needed, or discuss it on the talk page. |
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This page in a nutshell: Wikipedia's success relies on your diligence. |
Wikipedia is sometimes compared to a sentient being or an artificial intelligence. In fact, it is neither.
It is a common observation that Wikipedia behaves like a homeostatic organism in some respects, and some of its actions even resemble those of intelligent beings. For example, parasites and waste are removed, enemies are averted, memes grow and decline, lacerations heal, mechanisms for maintenance of internal equilibrium evolve, Wikipedia adapts to changing environments, etc. etc.
Many of these mechanisms work quite reliably, and one may therefore be tempted to assume that Wikipedia can be trusted to function on its own. For example, one might believe that an article's deficits will automagically get sorted out, that routine maintenance tasks can be left to others, that involvement in policy development or other community affairs is unnecessary, that interactions with other users can largely be done by using semi-automated messages, etc.
Such attitudes, however, are detrimental to the project, because they negate the most fundamental fact about Wikipedia, namely that it works by collaboration. Collaboration is essential on every imaginable level of the project, be it routinely welcoming new users, educating problematic Wikipedians, refining policy, polishing articles, organizing elections, representing the Foundation to the outside world, or whatever you can think of. Collaboration relies on communication. Most everything that has been accomplished under this project has its roots in individual users communicating with others.
Therefore, if you wish the project to succeed, stay involved. Communicate. Don't rely on anything happening on its own. Wikipedia is only as good as you make it.
