 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Problems can arise from the phenomenon of experienced contributors feeling like they own Wikipedia. |
A cornerstone principle of Wikipedia is that anyone can edit – users are highly encouraged to be bold but not reckless in editing articles, and to ignore any rules that prevent them from improving the encyclopedia. However, as in any project where people dedicate large portions of their time, the tricky problem arises that some long-term contributors may begin to feel a sense of entitlement and superiority over less prolific editors.
Our prolific contributors have been called the most valuable piece of this project[1] and deserve recognition and commendation from the community. However, the existence of vested contributors can often lead to grave problems that are detrimental to the community. Double standards of conduct may develop, disillusioning and demoralizing users. Vested contributors may be backed by other members of the community, sometimes growing into a clique of affiliated editors who tend to mutually reinforce each other – the oft-maligned "cabal". A prevalence of this attitude can lead to a breakdown in the growth and development of the project.
Editors are reminded that they are working in an environment of peers; an atmosphere of mutual respect for each other's work should be promoted.
- ^ Reid Priedhorsky; Jilin Chen; Shyong (Tony) K. Lam; Katherine Panciera; Loren Terveen; John Riedl (2007), "Creating, Destroying, and Restoring Value in Wikipedia" (PDF), GROUP, doi:10.1145/1316624.1316663