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Nice Article, DIGITAL MAOISM: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism

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mouser:
There are certain types of answers that ought not be provided by an individual. When a government bureaucrat sets a price, for instance, the result is often inferior to the answer that would come from a reasonably informed collective that is reasonably free of manipulation or runaway internal resonances. But when a collective designs a product, you get design by committee, which is a derogatory expression for a reason.

Here I must take a moment to comment on Linux and similar efforts. The various formulations of "open" or "free" software are different from the Wikipedia and the race to be most Meta in important ways. Linux programmers are not anonymous and in fact personal glory is part of the motivational engine that keeps such enterprises in motion. But there are similarities, and the lack of a coherent voice or design sensibility in an esthetic sense is one negative quality of both open source software and the Wikipedia.

These movements are at their most efficient while building hidden information plumbing layers, such as Web servers. They are hopeless when it comes to producing fine user interfaces or user experiences. If the code that ran the Wikipedia user interface were as open as the contents of the entries, it would churn itself into impenetrable muck almost immediately. The collective is good at solving problems which demand results that can be evaluated by uncontroversial performance parameters, but bad when taste and judgment matter.
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JavaJones:
He makes a lot of valid and interesting points, but his tone and perspective also seem firmly rooted in a hardline individualist approach, embittered by a loss of status in relation to these collective opinion aggregators and methods on the rise. What is needed is balance, but we humans aren't real good at that. Relying on an elite cadre of consultants and trailblazers is no more sane though, IMO.

The article is definitely worth a read either way, and again I do agree with a number of things he says. I suppose I would just say that I don't necessarily agree with his thesis, merely many of his points and supporting arguments. I don't think they necessarily paint the same whole picture that he does though.

- Oshyan

mouser:
good points javajones - i'm not endorsing everything he says - but i think he has some great points and does a nice job of pointing out different scenerios that may need novel solutions.

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