Wikipedia and the Value of No Experts At All

By leelefever on January 18, 2008 - 10:32am.

• Categories:
• experts
• plainenglish
• wiki
• Comments: 14

My Dad has a saying about trying to get boys to do work.  "One boy is worth one boy, two boys is worth half-a-boy and three boys is worth no boys at all."

When I look at Wikipedia with my plain English glasses, I think the same is true about experts. Look at it this way...

Let's say you're trying to learn about digestion.  You can likely find an expert who can sit with you and make digestion very easy to understand. Now, lets say you're talking to two experts. Something changes - the experts are now double checking each other and looking for ways to relate their unique point of view. With each expert you add, the more accurate the information becomes and the harder it becomes for you to understand.